An American contractor passed away, and another contractor and five US soldiers were injured when an explosive drone “of Iranian origin” hit a base maintenance facility near Hasaké, in northeastern Syria, on Thursday, the Pentagon said in this video the collision between the Russian fighter and US Reaper drone near Crimea in a statement.
In response, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, said that at the direction of President Joe Biden ordered “precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria, against facilities used by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.” .
“The airstrikes were carried out in response to today’s attack, as well as in response to a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards,” Austin explained.
Some 900 US soldiers are in Syria as part of an international coalition fighting what remains of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
These soldiers are frequent targets of attacks carried out by militias.
-“We will always answer”
“As President Biden clearly stated, we will take all necessary steps to defend our fellow citizens and We will always respond at the time and place of our choice“, emphasized the Secretary of Defense.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based NGO with an extensive network of informants in Syria, “the US attacks targeted oran arms depot in the town of Deir Ezzor, killing six pro-Iranian fighters.”.
“Another five fighters were killed in attacks on positions of Iranian groups near mayadin and in another near Al Bukamal“Added this NGO, specifying that two of the 11 dead are Syrians.
iranian groups and their allies, supporters of the Damascus regime, are strongly established in these areas close to the border with Iraqwhich constitute an important crossing point for weapons into Syria.
US troops also support the Syrian Democratic Forcesthe de facto army of the Kurds in the region, which led the battle against the IS group to drive it out of the last territories it controlled in Syria in 2019.
In August 2022The US president ordered retaliatory strikes in Syria’s oil-rich Deir Ezzor province after uan outpost of the anti-jihadist coalition suffered a drone attackwhich caused no casualties.
That attack came the same day Iranian state media reported the death of an Revolutionary Guards general days earlier while he was “on mission in Syria as a military adviser.”
Iran, a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, claims to have deployed the military to the country at the invitation of Damascus and only in an advisory capacity.
The US-led international coalition has repeatedly acknowledged having carried out attacks in eastern Syria against pro-Iranian fighters.
Israel has also carried out numerous attacks in Syriabut rarely claims them.
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