The airstrikes launched against militants in Syria last week sent a “very strong signal,” the Pentagon said Monday, rebutting claims by militant groups that the strikes had no real effect on them. “I haven’t seen those comments, I would go back to what I said last week: that this was really designed to do two things, to remove that compound from their utilization of it as an entry control point from Syria into Iraq, and to send a very strong signal that we’re not going to tolerate attacks on our people and Iraqi partners,” John Kirby, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, told reporters during a press briefing in Washington. The United States on Feb. 25 launched strikes in eastern Syria. Kirby said shortly after the strikes struck that they were authorized by President Joe Biden “in response to recent attacks against American and coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats …