US Base in Syra Attacked by Iranian Backed Group

The tensions between the United States and Iran flared up this week as the Biden Administration responded to the attack of an Iranian-made drone on Thursday that targeted a Coalition base near Hasakah, Northeast Syria, and killed a U.S. contractor.

In retaliation, the President authorized a series of precision airstrikes against facilities used by groups associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). In the aftermath of this swift retaliation, the Pentagon reported that no U.S. lives were lost, and the base near the Al-Omar oil field did not sustain any damage.

The initial attack on the Coalition base on Thursday resulted in five wounded U.S. service members and the death of one U.S. contractor. However, the retaliatory measure by President Biden saw six Iranian-backed fighters killed in U.S. airstrikes of two separate posts near Deir el-Zour and Mayadeen, as well as a military post near the border with Iraq. The airstrikes were conducted as a proportional and deliberate response, and three wounded service members were medically evacuated to medical facilities in Iraq.

Speaking on the incident, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said, “Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today.”

Austin reiterated, “As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and always respond at a time and place of our choosing. No group will strike our troops with impunity.”

The incident serves as a warning to any group or state planning to launch an offensive against U.S. forces that the President has made it crystal clear that the United States will respond at its own discretion with immediate action, and no group shall get away with attacking U.S. personnel.