A drone strike on a base housing US troops in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday, in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched a counter-offensive over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have targeted its troops in the region.
The US-led Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Monday the attack hit a training ground at the al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where military commando units are trained.
No casualties were reported among the US military.
An umbrella group of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, dubbed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, released a video claiming responsibility for the attack and showing them launching drones from an unspecified location.
In late January, a drone strike by the same group killed three US soldiers and injured dozens more at a desert base in Jordan.
The US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said the attack hit a training ground at the al-Omar base in Deir el-Zour. AFP via Getty Images
The US military launched dozens of counterstrikes targeting Iran-backed militant groups in western Iraq and eastern Syria and also attacked the Houthis in Yemen.
The SDF initially accused “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” of carrying out Sunday’s attack but in a second statement blamed “Iranian-backed militias” after investigating the attack.
The umbrella group has launched dozens of drone strikes on US military and military bases in Iraq and Syria, and has called for the withdrawal of American troops from both countries.
No casualties were reported among US troops in the attack. Kyle Mazza/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
The attack comes as tensions flare across the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by a Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least seven SDF fighters were killed in Sunday’s attack and at least 18 others were wounded, some critically.
The attack late Sunday came two days after US forces carried out strikes against Iran-linked militant targets in Syria and Iraq.
An RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returns to its base following an attack on Houthi targets in Yemen, 4 February. 2024. via REUTERS
The SDF said it had the right to respond to the attack.
The US military said it fired four anti-ship missiles on Sunday that were poised to be fired at ships in the Red Sea from Houthi rebel-held areas of Yemen.
In a statement earlier Monday, US Central Command said the strike was in self-defense and came after the military determined the missile “poses an immediate threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.”
From left to right – Spc. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett was killed by a drone strike on January 28, 2024, at their base in Jordan near the Syrian border. AP
Sunday’s attack came a day after the US and Britain launched a second wave of strikes against the Houthis, aimed at undermining the Iran-backed group’s ability to attack ships in the Red Sea.
The US and Britain said they hit 36 Houthi targets.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
