ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Four civilians were injured on Friday when United States forces in northeast Syria came under rocket attack as the death toll from a US airstrike on Iran-backed militias the day before rose to 16.
“On the morning of March 24th, at approximately 8:05 a.m. Syrian local time, 10 rockets targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria,” read a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM) late Friday.
“The attack resulted in no injuries to U.S. or coalition personnel and no damage to U.S. equipment or facilities. One of the rockets missed the facility by almost five kilometers, striking a civilian house, causing significant damage and causing minor injuries to two women and two children,” it added.
Tensions are high between American forces and Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria after a US contractor was killed and six others were injured in a drone strike on a Coalition base near northeast Syria's Hasaka city on Thursday. The drone was of Iranian origin, according to the Pentagon.
In retaliation, American forces launched airstrikes against groups affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) based in eastern Syria. As of Saturday, the death toll has risen from eight to 16, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Among the dead are nine pro-Iran fighters and three Syrian soldiers. The identity of four others is unknown.
Nearly a thousand US troops are stationed in Syria as part of an international coalition that has fought alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State (ISIS). The Americans have come under attack 78 times since the beginning of 2021, an average of nearly one attack every 10 days, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Erik Kurilla told US lawmakers on Thursday.
Iran-backed militias and factions are often blamed, but have never claimed responsibility.
After the Friday morning attack, CENTCOM condemned the risk posed to civilians.
“This kind of indiscriminate rocket attack places not only our forces and coalition forces at risk, but also jeopardizes the local civilian population as well as the security and stability of Syria and the entire region,” said CENTCOM spokesperson Col. Joe Buccino.
US President Joe Biden, speaking during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that America “does not - does not, I emphasize - seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people.”
“That’s exactly what happened last night. And we’re going to continue to keep up our efforts to counter terrorist threats in the region, in partnerships with Canada and other members of the coalition, to defeat ISIS,” he added, referring to the retaliatory airstrike.
An unnamed American official told CNN on Friday that a US service member was injured in the rocket attack but was in stable condition. The official added that two other attacks targeted US and coalition forces in Syria on the same day.
Iran and Syria have not commented on the latest series of attacks.
