Both the attack on US personnel and the retaliation were disclosed by the Pentagon at the same time late on Thursday.
The US military has alleged that Iran-aligned groups carried out a drone attack on a US-occupied base in northeastern Syria. A US contractor was killed, another was injured, and five US troops were wounded in the attack.
“At the direction of President [Joe] Biden, I authorized US Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC),” Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said in the statement.
On Friday, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor with a wide network of sources on the ground in the war-torn country, stated eight people had been killed by US strikes.
“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 Albu Kamal,” he claimed.
Since March 2011, when Syria fell in the grip of foreign-backed militancy, the Syrian government has said that the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies aid Takfiri terrorist groups continue to wreak havoc in the country.
Iran’s military forces play an advisory role in Syria at the request of Damascus, unlike the American troops that are deployed to the Arab country without the Syrian government’s consent.
The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s rich mineral resources.
US and Israeli attacks have severe humanitarian repercussions for the people of Syria, who are currently facing a humanitarian crisis, and will only worsen their situation.
