Drone strike kills American in Syria: Washington responds with bombing raids
The United States bombed on Thursday facilities of groups close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in eastern Syria. in retaliation for the death of an Army contractor hours earlier in an Iranian-made drone strike, the Pentagon said in a statement.
“The bombings were conducted in response to Thursday’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces. carried out by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The Pentagon did not give further details about the bombings or clarify whether they caused casualties. It only defended that its actions were “proportional and deliberate” to limit the risk of escalation..
Thursday’s drone strike also left five U.S. soldiers and another contractor wounded. The device struck a maintenance facility at an international coalition base on fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.in northeastern Syria at around 1:30 p.m. local time.
“As (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden has already made clear, we will take all necessary steps to defend our people. (…) No group will attack our troops with impunity,” Austin added.
Fight against Islamic State
The international coalition is present at several points in the administrative demarcation controlled by its allied Democratic Syrian Forces (DSF), a Kurdish-led armed alliance with which it is collaborating in the fight against Islamic State remnants.
The Euphrates River roughly divides Deir al zur into two parts: one controlled by troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies; and the other in the hands of Kurdish forces, with a presence of Washington and its partners.
In the government areas, the following are deployed pro-Iranian militias that support Damascus and attack U.S. or coalition targets from time to time. in the province, sometimes resulting in crossfire between the parties.
