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.

Following the attacks against he fighters, the Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen reported that a US base at the al-Omar oil field in Syria’s northeast had been targeted with a missile attack. A security source told Reuters that it was unclear whether there had been any casualties.

Source: Al jazeera