Syria
A US soldier at the Suwaydiya oil fields in Hasaka province, northeastern Syria, on February 13, 2021. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suicide drone, allegedly launched by Iran-backed militia groups, targeted United States troops positioned near the Koniko gas field in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province, a war monitor reported on Saturday, hours after the announcement of the killing of Hezbollah Leader in an Israeli airstrike.
“Violent explosions were heard, caused by a suicide drone attack carried out by Iran-backed militias on the US base at the ‘Koniko’ gas plant in the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
The war monitor noted that the troops in the area countered the attacks, with no immediate information on casualties, or whether the drones were shot down.
This comes hours after the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah announced the death of its Leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on the capital Beirut on Friday.
Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than 30 years, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a residential neighborhood on Friday. People fled southern Beirut in the middle of the night as Israel carried out additional airstrikes.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement that Nasrallah’s death was a “measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.”
In his statement, Biden reiterated his support for Israel’s “right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.”
Eleven people were killed and more than 100 others were injured in the Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon.
Following confirmation of Nasrallah’s death, leaders in the Middle East were quick to issue statements.
“The Islamic world has lost a great figure; the Resistance front has lost a prominent flag bearer; and Hezbollah Lebanon has lost a rare leader,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a statement.
He vowed that the Iran-backed resistance forces would retaliate.
“The blows of the Resistance front against the decaying and collapsing Zionist regime will only intensify. The vile nature of the Zionist regime has not achieved victory in this incident,” he said.
Khamenei declared five days of mourning across Iran.
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