Suspected Iranian Drone Kills U.S. Contractor, Wounds Five Other Service Members In Syria (Video)

File image.

A United States contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded early on March 23 after a suspected Iranian suicide drone struck a maintenance facility on a coalition base near the northeastern Syrian city of al-Hasakah, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while three additional service members and the U.S. contractor were medically evacuated to coalition medical facilities in neighboring Iraq.

“The intelligence community assesses the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] to be of Iranian origin,” the statement reads.

In response to the strike, President Joe Biden authorized a precision airstrike “in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

“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 added.

The successful attack comes just weeks after the top U.S. general, Mark Milley, visited northeast Syria to assess the mission against ISIS and the risk to U.S. troops.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said in a report that six Iranian-backed fighters were killed in the U.S. strikes that targeted the city of Deir Ezzor. The London-based monitoring group added that two other fighters were killed in a U.S. attack on a post near the town of al-Mayadin, and another strike hit a military post near the town of al-Bukamal along the border with Iraq.

These claims were denied by Syrian pro-government news sources who said that U.S. strikes targeted only the Rural Development building in Harabesh neighborhood in Deir Ezzor city. The sources alleged that only three civilians were wounded in the attack.

Following the U.S. strikes, reports of a rocket attack on a coalition base in al-Omar oil fields in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside emerged online. These reports are yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. entered Syria in 2015 under the pretext of combating ISIS. Today, it maintains some 900 troops between several bases located in oil and gas fields in northeastern Syria and a garrison that blocks a strategic highway between Damascus and Iraq’s Baghdad in the southeastern area of al-Tanf.

Testifying to the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on March 23, General Erik Kurilla, who oversees US forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, said U.S. troops have come under attack by Iranian-backed groups about 78 times since the beginning of 2021.

Despite the increase in attacks on U.S. troops in Syria, Washington does not seem to be planning to leave the country in the near future. The Biden administration views U.S. military presence there as a means to pressure both Damascus and Tehran.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC:

• Israel Destroyed Iranian Radar During Recent Attack On Syria
• Syria, Saudi Arabia Reached Breakthrough Agreement To Restore Relations – Report