A US contractor was killed and six others, including five service members and another contractor, were injured when a drone “struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time,” on Thursday, the US Department of Defense said.
“The intelligence community assesses the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] to be of Iranian origin,” the Pentagon statement added.
In retaliation, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin authorized “precision airstrikes” against groups affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in eastern Syria after being given the green light by President Joe Biden.
“The airstrikes were conducted 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, adding that Washington “took proportionate and deliberate action” to minimize casualties and the risk of escalation.
Hundreds of US troops stationed in Syria are part of an international coalition that has fought alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
Attacks on US forces in Syria are often attributed to Iran-backed militias and factions but have never been claimed.
“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,” Secretary Austin continued. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday affirmed that Washington will “always take all necessary measures” to defend their forces and that they are prepared for additional Iranian attacks.
Below is a statement from the CENTCOM Commander on the precision strikes in response to American casualties in Syria. pic.twitter.com/MIJeQh1VtD
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 24, 2023
There are no immediate comments from Syria or Iran.
The wounded US service members and contractor evacuated to Iraq for medical assistance “are now in a stable condition,” Philip Ventura, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on Friday.
Tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran playing out in Iraq and Syria have decreased over the past year. In August, US forces launched airstrikes targeting facilities used by Iranian-backed militias in Deir ez-Zor in an attack it said was in retaliation to an attack on a US base.
On March 13, two rockets targeted forces of the US-led coalition in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province but failed to inflict any casualties or material damages. A month prior, CENTCOM said they had shot down an Iranian drone that was surveying a base of the Coalition in northeast Syria.
Earlier this month, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, made a surprise visit to American forces in Rojava. Damascus condemned the trip as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
The drone strike and retaliation come amid a deescalation of tensions in the Middle East as Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to restore diplomatic ties. Riyadh is also the latest country to begin re-establishing ties with Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The two may reopen their embassies after Eid al-Fitr, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Updated at 10:58 am with Department of Defense response to Rudaw
