Beirut: 19 people have died as a result of US strikes in retaliation for a deadly drone attack on Iranian-affiliated groups in Syria, a war monitor reported on Saturday. The US would react "forcefully," according to President Joe Biden, to protect its personnel.
Late on Friday, militias supported by Iran launched additional rocket attacks, which prompted additional coalition warplane strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Washington launched the initial attacks after the Pentagon reported that a drone "of Iranian origin" struck a US-led coalition base near Hasakah in northeastern Syria on Thursday, killing one US contractor and injuring another, along with five military personnel.
President Joe Biden had requested the "precision airstrikes... in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Three Syrian regime soldiers and 16 members of forces backed by Iran, including 11 Syrian citizens, were among the 19 people killed in the first wave of US strikes, according to the Britain-based Observatory on Saturday. Ten rockets were fired at American and coalition forces at the Green Village base in northeast Syria hours after the strikes, according to US Central Command.
No one was hurt or any base property was damaged, but one rocket hit a home about five kilometres away, inflicting minor injuries on two women and two children, according to CENTCOM.
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Later on Friday, militias supported by Iran attacked a base in the Conoco petrol field, prompting the coalition to retaliate by attacking targets in Deir Ezzor city, according to the observatory. The war monitor reported that subsequent rocket fire "caused material damage" to coalition facilities at the Al-Omar oil field base and in Deir Ezzor's eastern countryside.
Early on Saturday morning, a "cautious calm" returned to the Deir Ezzor region, according to the observatory. According to Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder, two F-15 fighters launched the retaliatory attack in order to defend US personnel.
The strikes, according to him, "were intended to send a very clear message that we will take the protection of our personnel seriously and that we will respond quickly and decisively if they are threatened." According to him, they were "reasonable and planned action designed to reduce the risk of casualties."
According to the Pentagon, only two of the four American service members who were hurt on Thursday received treatment on the spot; the other three soldiers and one contractor were flown to Iraq. CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael Kurilla declared, "We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing.
The Al-Tanf garrison in Syria was the target of three one-way drone attacks in January, according to the US military, one of which breached the garrison's air defences and injured two allied Syrian fighters. When several drones targeted a coalition outpost in August of last year, Biden ordered comparable retaliatory strikes in the province of Deir Ezzor.
We are aware that Iran is funding these organisations, Ryder said. Iran, he continued, "certainly plays a role in ensuring that this type of activity doesn't happen."
While on a state visit to Canada's Ottawa, Biden declared: "The United States does not, does not seek conflict with Iran." However, he warned that Iran and its allies should be ready for the US to "act forcefully to protect our people." That's exactly what occurred the previous evening.
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Speaking at a press conference alongside Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, Biden offered his "deepest condolences" to the family of the American victim as well as his best wishes for the injured.
The top US commander for the Middle East, US Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, cautioned that if necessary, its forces could launch additional strikes. In a statement, Kurilla stated that "we are prepared for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks."