US air strikes ‘kill 11’ in Syria after drone kills contractor
The United States military carried out multiple air strikes in eastern Syria against Iran-aligned groups who it blamed for a deadly drone attack that killed a contractor, injured another, and wounded five US troops.
Although American forces stationed in Syria have been targeted by drones before, fatalities are extremely rare.
The US raids, which a United Kingdom-based war monitor said killed 11 pro-Iranian fighters, were in retaliation for an unmanned aerial vehicle assault against a US-led coalition base near Hassakeh, in northeastern Syria, at 01:38pm (10:38 GMT), the Pentagon said in a statement late on Thursday.
US intelligence assessed the attacking drone was Iranian in origin. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attacks targeted groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGG) in eastern Syria.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” Austin said in a statement.
Austin said he authorised the retaliatory strikes at the direction of US President Joe Biden.
“As President Biden has made clear we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), six Iranian-backed fighters were killed in the American strikes in the eastern city of Deir Az Zor.
The SOHR added two other fighters were killed in a US attack on a post near the town of Mayadeen, and another strike killed three at a military post near the town of Boukamal along the border with Iraq. The reports could not be confirmed.
‘Reserve their right to respond’
Iran’s state Press TV, saying no Iranian had been killed in the attack, quoted local sources as denying the target was an Iran-aligned military post, but a rural development centre and a grain facility near a military airport were hit.
“A military source in Syria told Press TV that the resistance groups reserve their right to respond to the American attack and will take reciprocal action,” it said.
Diplomacy to deescalate the crisis appeared to begin immediately around the strikes. Qatar’s state-run news agency reported a call between its foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, and Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser. Doha has been an interlocutor between Iran and the US recently amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Qatar’s foreign minister also spoke around the same time with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
US forces entered Syria in 2015, backing allied forces in their fight against the ISIL (ISIS) group.
The US maintains the base that was attacked near Hassakeh, while there are an estimated 900 US troops deployed in the country – and even more contractors – including in Syria’s north, south and east.
