Syria
The United States military has carried out multiple air strikes in eastern Syria against Iran-aligned groups whom 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. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the US response targeted groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGG), adding that he authorised the retaliatory raids 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,” Austin said in a statement.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), six Iranian-backed fighters were killed in the American attack in the eastern city of Deir Az Zor.
The SOHR added that 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.
