This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/24/us-strikes-iran-backed-group-in-syria-after-attack-on-coalition-base

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
US strikes Iran-backed group in Syria after deadly attack on coalition base US strikes Iran-backed group in Syria after deadly attack on coalition base
(about 7 hours later)
A US contractor was killed when a suspected Iranian-made drone struck base in Syria’s north-east Airstrikes in retaliation to attack on base in north-east by suspected Iranian-made drone that killed US contractor
The United States has carried out airstrikes on an Iran-backed group in Syria, after a US contractor was killed when a suspected Iranian-made drone attacked a coalition base in the country’s north-east. The US has carried out airstrikes on facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria in retaliation to a drone strike in Syria that killed a US contractor and injured five American troops.
Five US service members and one other US contractor were wounded in the attack on the coalition base on Thursday, the Pentagon said. Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while three others and the injured contractor were transported to medical facilities in Iraq. The attack by a suspected Iranian-made drone on a coalition base in north-east Syria and the US response threaten to upend recent efforts to de-escalate tensions across the wider Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps toward détente in recent days after years of turmoil.
In a statement released later on Thursday, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said US Central Command forces retaliated against the attack with “precision airstrikes” against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement that the American intelligence community had determined the drone was of Iranian origin, but offered no other immediate evidence to support the claim.
The defence department said the intelligence community had determined the unmanned aerial vehicle used in the attack on the coalition base was of Iranian origin. “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 Revolutionary Guards, 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 Revolutionary Guard, Austin said. Iran relies on a network of proxy forces through the Middle East to counter the US and Israel, its arch regional enemy.
Overnight, videos on social media purported to show explosions in Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oilfields. The Pentagon said two of the wounded service members were treated on-site, while three others and the injured contractor were transported to medical facilities in Iraq.
Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces control the area, which has also been targeted by suspected airstrikes by Israel in recent months, allegedly aimed at hitting Iranian supply routes. Overnight, videos on social media purported to show explosions in Syria’s Deir ez-Zour, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields. Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces control the area, where there have also been suspected airstrikes by Israel in recent months allegedly targeting Iranian supply routes.
A UK based war monitor said that eight pro-Iran fighters were killed in the US strike on Thursday. Iran and Syria did not immediately acknowledge the strikes, nor did their officials at the United Nations in New York respond to requests for comment.
“US strikes targeted a weapons depots inside Deir Ezzor city, killing six pro-Iran fighters, and two other fighters were killed by strikes targeting the desert of Mayadine and near al-Boukamal,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported the American strikes killed six Iranian-backed fighters at an arms depot in the Harabesh neighbourhood in the city of Deir ez-Zour. The Observatory, which relies on a network of local contacts in Syria, said US bombing at a post near the town of Mayadeen killed two fighters.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been suspected of carrying out attacks with bomb-carrying drones across the wider Middle East. A separate American strike hit a military post near the town of Boukamal along the border with Iraq, killing another three fighters, the Observatory said.
There was no immediate reaction from Iran over the strikes, which come during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, which answer only to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been suspected of carrying out attacks with bomb-carrying drones across the wider Middle East.
It is not the first time that the US under President Joe Biden has struck Syria due to tensions with Iran. In February and June 2021, as well as August 2022, Biden launched attacks there. In recent months, Russia has begun using Iranian drones in its attacks on sites in Ukraine. Iran has issued conflicting denials about its drones being used in the war, though western countries and experts have tied components in the drones back to Tehran.
US forces entered Syria in 2015, backing local forces in their fight against the Islamic State group. The US still maintains a base near Hasakah in north-east Syria, where Thursday’s drone strike happened. There are roughly 900 US troops, and even more contractors, in Syria. The exchange of strikes came as Saudi Arabia and Iran have been working towards reopening embassies in each other’s countries. The kingdom also acknowledged efforts to reopen a Saudi embassy in Syria, whose president, Bashar al-Assad, has been backed by Iran in his country’s long war.
“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,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.” Gen Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the head of the American military’s central command, warned American forces could carry out additional strikes if needed. “We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks,” Kurilla said in a statement.
Diplomacy to de-escalate the crisis appeared to begin immediately around the strikes. Qatar’s state-run news agency reported a call between its foreign minister and Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser. Doha has been an interlocutor between Iran and the US recently amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Qatar’s foreign minister also spoke around the same time with the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Sign up to First Edition
Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning
after newsletter promotion
Austin said he authorised the retaliatory strikes at the direction of Joe Biden.
The US under Biden has struck Syria previously over tensions with Iran. In February and June 2021, as well as August 2022, Biden launched attacks there.
Dareen Khalifa, a senior Syria analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said that while Thursday’s exchange of strikes came at a sensitive political moment due to the “overall deterioration of US-Iran relations and the stalling of the nuclear talks”, she did not expect a significant escalation.
“These tit-for-tat strikes have been ongoing for a long time,” Khalifa said, although she noted they usually did not result in casualties.
While “the risk of an escalatory cycle is there”, she said, “I think the Biden administration won’t be eager to escalate in Syria now and will instead have a relatively measured response”.
US forces entered Syria in 2015, backing allied forces in their fight against the Islamic State group. The US still maintains the base near Hasakah in north-east Syria where Thursday’s drone strike happened. There are roughly 900 US troops, and even more contractors, in Syria, including in the north and farther south and east.
Since the US drone strike that killed Gen Qassem Suleimani of the Revolutionary Guards in 2020, Iran has sought “to make life difficult for US forces stationed east of the Euphrates”, said Hamidreza Azizi, an expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“Iran increased its support for local proxies in Deir ez-Zour while trying to ally with the tribal forces in the area,” Azizi wrote in a recent analysis. “Due to the geographical proximity, Iraqi groups also intensified their activities in the border strip with Syria and in the Deir ez-Zour province.”