The United States said today it will protect its personnel in Syria after the US military launched airstrikes against members of armed groups close to Iran in retaliation for an attack that killed and wounded five US soldiers.
The day after the deadly attack on Americans in Syria, which Washington blamed on an Iranian-made drone, sources said a US base in northeast Syria had come under yet another missile attack. US officials said there were no casualties.
“We will work to protect our people and our facilities to the best of our ability. It’s a dangerous environment,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.
US forces in Syria have been hit by drones before, but casualties are rare.
The Pentagon said US F-15s were targeting facilities used by groups linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight pro-Iranian fighters have been killed in US strikes in Syria.
Reuters cannot independently confirm this version.
Iranian state network Press TV, which reported that no Iranians were killed in the attack, cited local sources who denied targeting an Iran-linked military outpost, saying the strike had targeted a rural development center and a grain center. next to the military airport.
The US strikes came in retaliation for a drone strike earlier Thursday on US troops at a coalition base near Hasaka in northeast Syria.
The Pentagon said three U.S. troops and a contractor had to be sent to Iraq, where the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS remnants has medical facilities. According to him, two other wounded American soldiers are being treated at the base. Today, the Pentagon reported that the victims are in stable condition.
A US base in the Al-Omar oil field in Syria came under rocket fire this morning, Iranian television network Al Mayadeen and a security source said.
Kirby said the attack failed and there were no American casualties.
US forces were first deployed to Syria during President Barack Obama’s campaign against the Islamic State, working with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 US troops stationed in Syria.
According to the US military, US troops have been attacked by Iranian-backed groups about 78 times since the beginning of 2021.
Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.
Source: Kathimerini
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