The United States launched airstrikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria on Thursday after a suicide drone killed an American contractor at a coalition base near Hasakah in the country’s northeast and wounded five American service members and another.
The Defense Department said in a statement the intelligence community believed the drone was of Iranian origin.
The US retaliated with airstrikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria, which held drone/aviation assets and vehicles used by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). An activist group said the US strikes killed fighters on the ground.
Rockets on Friday targeted the Conoco gas field in northeastern Syria, wounding an American service member who is in stable condition, according to a US official. Less than an hour later, officials said, three suicide drones struck Green Village, a US installation in the area. Two were shot and one damaged a building. There was no injury. Earlier on Friday, a 10-rocket attack on Green Village caused no casualties or damage, according to US officials.
During a press conference on Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Joe Biden said, “Make no mistake, the United States does not seek conflict with Iran, does not insist on it, but protects the lives of its people.” Be prepared to take coercive action for us to defend.” That’s exactly what happened last night.”
He condoled the death of the American contractor and wished “a speedy recovery to those injured”.
Biden also told NBC News, “We’re not going to stop (fighting ISIS in the region).”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that he had ordered a “precision strike” against IRGC facilities on Biden’s orders.
“The airstrikes were 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.
According to three US defense officials, one of the radars used to detect incoming threats at the military base near Hasakah was down for maintenance at the time of the drone attack. Officials said it was unclear whether this vulnerability played a role in the drone’s access to the populated area at the base.
Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, testified before Congress on Thursday morning and did not disclose the attack despite the fact that it happened, according to two officials. He spoke of drone attacks on targets in Iraq and Syria but did not mention the deadly attack.
On Friday, Kirby told NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, “It’s very clear to us and to the intelligence community and to the Pentagon that this was an Iranian unilateral drone strike. We’ve certainly been able to identify that.”
Two service members wounded in Thursday’s attack were treated at the base near Hasakah, while three others and the wounded contractor were evacuated to medical facilities in Iraq. Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Philip Ventura said the condition of the injured was stable.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based opposition war monitor that relies on local sources, reported that US airstrikes killed 11 fighters on the ground.
The Observatory said six Iranian-backed militiamen were killed in an attack on a warehouse in Harbesh district, located in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour. It said three fighters were killed at a military post near the town of Boukmal, bordering Iraq, where Iranian militias are believed to be based, and two other fighters were killed on the outskirts of Mayadeen, a town in the same region.
NBC News has not confirmed the reports.
The US has previously struck targets linked to Iran in Syria under the Biden administration.
General Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, said in congressional testimony on Thursday that there have been 78 attacks on US troop bases in Iraq and Syria since January 2021. The attacks, mainly from drones and rockets, are believed to have been carried out by Iran or Iranian-backed proxies.
Iran has previously denied any role and has not acknowledged Thursday’s attacks.
Kurilla – testifying Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee – cautioned about Iran’s fleet of drones, which Russia has used in its war on Ukraine and is suspected to have deployed in attacks in the Middle East.
“The Iranian regime now has the largest and most capable unmanned aerial vehicle force in the region,” he said.
US forces entered Syria in 2015, supporting allied forces in their fight against the Islamic State terrorist group.
There are about 900 US troops in Syria, and even more contractors, including those in the north and the far south and east.
Armed Russian jets flew over a US military base in Syria nearly every day in March, violating a four-year-old agreement between the US and Russia and risking an escalation, the US general in charge of air operations in the region told NBC News earlier this week.