Iran-backed fighters fired three missiles at a U.S. military base in northeast Syria today after Joe Biden approved a retaliatory air strike in response to an Iranian drone attack that killed an American contractor and wounded five US troops, per The Daily Mail.
Two of the three missiles were said to have fallen into an oil field, while the third landed on a civilian house nearby, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
No American personnel were hurt in today’s attack, according to White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the retaliatory airstrikes were carried out by the IRGC, a branch of the Iranian military that has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.
The Daily Mail reported (excerpt):
The White House today insisted America is not seeking a conflict with Iran after President Biden launched a series of retaliatory air strikes against Tehran-backed fighters who had killed an American contractor in a suicide drone attack.
Biden ordered the U.S. Central Command forces to launch ‘precision airstrikes’ against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in northeast Syria on Thursday, killing at least 14 pro-Iran fighters.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said today that the retaliatory airstrikes against the IRGC, a wing of the Iranian military which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Washington, were aimed at protecting American personnel in Syria.
The US strikes, carried out by F-15 fighter jets, were in retaliation for a drone strike that killed a contractor and injured five service members, as well as another American contractor at a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near al-Hasakah in northeast Syria. US officials say that the kamikaze drone was of Iranian origin.
And in response to the US drone strikes, Iran-backed fighters fired seven missiles at the US military base at the Al-Omar oil field in Syria’s northeast at 11am on Friday morning.
The latest violence could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran amid stalled efforts to revive a nuclear deal and Iran’s military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Kirby today insisted the US is not seeking conflict with Iran, while adding that Tehran should not be involved in supporting attacks on US facilities.
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The US strikes targeted a weapons depot in the Harabesh neighborhood in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, killing six pro-Iran fighters. Another strike killed two fighters near the town of Al-Mayadin, and six others near Albu Kamal, the Observatory’s head Rami Abdel Rahman.
In response, the pro-Iranian fighters launched three missile strikes at the US base at the Al-Omar oil field, Kirby said, adding that no American personnel were hurt in today’s attack.
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General Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, warned that American forces could carry out additional strikes if needed.
