BEIRUT (AP) – Iran-backed militants were on high alert in eastern Syria on Saturday, a day after US forces launched air strikes on sites in the war-torn country, opposition activists said. The airstrike came after a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a U.S. contractor and wounded six other Americans on Thursday.
Things calmed down a day after rockets were fired at a US base in eastern Syria. The missiles came after US airstrikes against three separate areas in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour province, which borders Iraq, opposition activists said.
It’s not the first time the US and Iran have exchanged attacks in Syria, but the attack and US response threaten to derail recent efforts to de-escalate tensions across the Middle East. We have taken steps to ease the confusion. “Iranian-backed militias remain vigilant amid fears of possible new airstrikes and calm remains,” said opposition war monitor Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. said Mr.
The observatory puts the death toll from the US attack at 19, including his arsenal in his Harabesh district of the city of Deir el-Zour and his two military bases near the cities of Mayadeen and Boukamal. He said he died in three places.
Iranian-backed militias and Syrian forces control the area, which has been the target of Israeli airstrikes in recent months on suspicion of targeting Iranian supply routes.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, an Iranian paramilitary group that reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is suspected of conducting bomb-laden drone strikes in the Middle East.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US intelligence agencies determined that the drones in Thursday’s attack were of Iranian origin, but provided no other direct evidence to support the claim. Drones attacked a coalition base in Hasakeh, northeastern Syria.
Iran relies on a network of proxy powers across the Middle East to counter its regional enemies, the United States and Israel. The US has had troops in northeastern Syria since 2015 when it was deployed as part of its fight against IS groups, where it maintains about 900 troops and controls about a third of Syria. Cooperating with Kurdish-led forces.
The slugfest came as Saudi Arabia and Iran were working towards reopening embassies in each other’s countries.The kingdom also acknowledged efforts to reopen the Saudi embassy in Syria. President Bashar Assad had Iranian backing in the long war in Syria. A State Department spokesman said Saturday that it has been in contact with Saudi officials about their approach to the region, including Syria, and said Washington’s stance on normalization with the Assad regime “has not changed, and we clearly agreed. .” he added.
A spokesperson said the consistent message from the United States to regional partners working with the Syrian government is that “credible measures to improve the situation of the Syrian people should be at the forefront of any engagement.” said there is.
Officials say Iran has carried out 80 attacks against US forces and positions in Iraq and Syria since January 2021. Most of these occurred in Syria.
The US under the Biden administration has attacked Syria in February 2021 and her June and her August 2022 over tensions with Iran.
Nearly half a million people have died in the Syrian civil war that began in 2011.
