striking back

That angered some staff members who were concerned the Times was striking back against employees for doing something that its own reporters do on a regular basis: write stories based on leaked material.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said the U.S. attacks represented “another strategic mistake,” but did not speak about striking back.

"Climate activism is a threat to the fossil fuel status quo, so it makes sense that corporate polluters and their allies in government are striking back hard," he said.

Previously the U.S. had withheld striking back, reflecting larger U.S. concerns about upending the shaky truce in Yemen and triggering a wider conflict in the region.

A media publication is striking back at NewsGuard, an American company that gives clients “reliability ratings and scores” for hundreds of news and information websites and often tags conservative sites with low grades.