US says it will protect personnel in Syria after deadly attack
- A US base in Syria’s northeast was targeted with a new missile attack on Friday – a day after the deadly attack on US personnel – there were no casualties
- ‘We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment,’ US National Security spokesman John Kirby said
The United States said on Friday that it would protect its personnel in Syria following the US air strikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for the attack that killed an American contractor and wounded five US troops.
Just a day after the deadly attack on US personnel in Syria, which Washington blamed on a drone of Iranian origin, sources said a US base in Syria’s northeast was targeted with a new missile attack. US officials said there were no US casualties in the Friday incident.
The latest violence could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran amid stalled efforts to revive a nuclear deal and Iran’s military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on CNN.
Although US forces stationed in Syria have been targeted by drones before, fatalities are rare. The Pentagon said the US strikes on Thursday targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war in Syria, said the US strikes had killed eight pro-Iranian fighters in Syria. The toll was unable to independently confirmed.