A drone attack on a U.S. military base in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday. This was the first major attack in Syria or Iraq since the United States launched retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militias last weekend. region.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the United States, said on Monday that the attack hit a training range at al-Omar base in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, where its special forces are trained.
No U.S. military casualties were reported.
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement, an umbrella organization for Iran-backed Iraqi militias, claimed responsibility for the attack and released a video showing the drone being launched from an unspecified location.
In late January, a drone strike by the same group killed three U.S. soldiers and injured dozens more at a desert base in Jordan.
The U.S. military launched dozens of retaliatory strikes targeting Iranian-backed militants in western Iraq and eastern Syria, as well as the Houthis in Yemen.
The SDF initially blamed “Syrian regime-backed mercenaries” for carrying out Sunday’s attack, but in a second statement after investigating the attack it blamed “Iranian-backed militias.”
The umbrella group has launched dozens of drone strikes against U.S. bases and troops in Iraq and Syria and is calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from both countries.
The attack took place amid heightened tensions across the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by a Hamas uprising in southern Israel on October 7.
Meanwhile, the British-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday’s attack killed at least seven SDF members and injured at least 18 others, some in critical condition.
The attack took place late Sunday, two days after U.S. forces struck Iranian-linked extremist targets in Syria and Iraq.
The Self-Defense Forces said it had the right to respond to the attack.
The U.S. military said Sunday it struck four anti-ship missiles that were ready to be fired at ships in the Red Sea from areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement early Monday that the attack was in self-defense and came after the military determined the missile “presented an imminent threat to U.S. naval vessels and commercial vessels in the region.” Stated.
Sunday’s airstrikes came a day after the United States and Britain launched a second wave of attacks against the Houthis aimed at reducing the Iranian-backed group’s ability to attack ships in the Red Sea.
The United States and Britain announced they had attacked 36 Houthi targets.
