U.S. launches ‘precision airstrikes’ in Syria after American worker killed by drone – National | 24CA News
A strike Thursday by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a U.S. contractor and wounded 5 American troops and one other contractor in northeast Syria, the Pentagon mentioned.
American forces mentioned they retaliated quickly after with “precision airstrikes” in Syria concentrating on services utilized by teams affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with activist teams saying they killed no less than 4 individuals.
The assault and the U.S. response threaten to upend latest efforts to deescalate tensions throughout the broader Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps towards detente in latest days after years of turmoil.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned in an announcement that the American intelligence neighborhood had decided the drone was of Iranian origin, however supplied no different speedy proof to assist the declare.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria” by teams affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, Austin mentioned.
Iran depends on a community of proxy forces by way of the Mideast to counter the U.S. and Israel, its arch regional enemy.
The Pentagon mentioned two of the wounded service members have been handled on-site, whereas three others and the injured contractor have been transported to medical services in Iraq.
Overnight, movies on social media purported to point out explosions in Syria’s Deir el-Zour, a strategic province that borders Iraq and incorporates oil fields. Iran-backed militia teams and Syrian forces management the world, which additionally has seen suspected airstrikes by Israel in latest months allegedly concentrating on Iranian provide routes.
Iran and Syria didn’t instantly acknowledge the strikes, nor did their officers on the United Nations in New York reply to requests for remark from The Associated Press.
The activist group Deir Ezzor 24 put the demise toll from the American strikes at 4 individuals. Deir Ezzor 24, which covers news in Deir el-Zour province, mentioned the strikes hit town of Deir el-Zour in addition to militiamen posts close to Mayadeen and Boukamal. It mentioned the strikes additionally wounded individuals, together with Iraqis.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition struggle monitor, reported that the American strikes killed six Iranian-backed fighters at an arms depot within the Harabesh neighborhood within the metropolis of Deir el-Zour. The Observatory, which depends on a community of native contacts in Syria, mentioned U.S. bombing at a put up close to the city of Mayadeen killed two fighters.
A separate American strike hit a army put up close to the city of Boukamal alongside the border with Iraq, killing one other three fighters, the Observatory mentioned.
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The AP couldn’t instantly independently affirm the activist experiences.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which solutions solely to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been suspected of finishing up assaults with bomb-carrying drones throughout the broader Middle East.
In latest months, Russia has begun utilizing Iranian drones in its assaults on websites throughout Ukraine as a part of its struggle on Kyiv. Iran has issued a sequence of conflicting denials about its drones getting used within the struggle, although Western nations and specialists have tied parts within the drones again to Tehran.
The change of strikes got here as Saudi Arabia and Iran have been working towards reopening embassies in one another’s international locations. The kingdom additionally acknowledged efforts to reopen a Saudi embassy in Syria, whose embattled President Bashar Assad has been backed by Iran in his nation’s lengthy struggle.
U.S. Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the pinnacle of the American army’s Central Command, warned that American forces might perform further strikes if wanted. “We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks,” Kurilla mentioned in an announcement.
Addressing the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Kurilla warned lawmakers that the “Iran of today is exponentially more militarily capable than it was even five years ago.” He pointed to Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles and bomb-carrying drones.
Kurilla additionally alleged that Iran had launched some 78 assaults on U.S. positions in Syria since January 2021.
“What Iran does to hide its hand is they use Iranian proxies,” Kurilla mentioned.
Diplomacy to deescalate the disaster appeared to start instantly across the strikes. Qatar’s state-run news company reported a name between its international minister and Jake Sullivan, the U.S. nationwide safety adviser. Doha has been an interlocutor between Iran and the U.S. not too long ago amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Qatar’s international minister additionally spoke across the identical time with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Austin mentioned he approved the retaliatory strikes on the course of 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,” Austin mentioned. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
The U.S. underneath Biden has struck Syria beforehand over tensions with Iran. In February and June of 2021, in addition to August 2022, Biden launched assaults there.
U.S. forces entered Syria in 2015, backing allied forces of their combat towards the Islamic State group. The U.S. nonetheless maintains the bottom close to Hasakah in northeast Syria the place Thursday’s drone strike occurred. There are roughly 900 U.S. troops, and much more contractors, in Syria, together with within the north and farther south and east.
Since the U.S. drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020, Iran has sought “to make life difficult for U.S. forces stationed east of the Euphrates,” mentioned Hamidreza Azizi, an professional with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“Iran increased its support for local proxies in Deir el-Zour while trying to ally with the tribal forces in the area,” Azizi wrote in a latest evaluation. “Due to the geographical proximity, Iraqi groups also intensified their activities in the border strip with Syria and in the Deir el-Zour province.”
The strikes come through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Syria’s struggle started with the 2011 Arab Spring protests that roiled the broader Middle East and toppled governments in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. It later morphed right into a regional proxy battle that has seen Russia and Iran again Assad. The United Nations estimates over 300,000 civilians have been killed within the struggle. Those figures don’t embody troopers and insurgents killed within the battle; their numbers are believed to be within the tens of 1000’s.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Kesten reported from Washington.
