American forces carried out another round of airstrikes in eastern Syria earlier today, targeting buildings used by Iranian-linked groups.
The strikes hit a training facility and safe house located near the Syrian towns of Abu Kamal and Mayadin, according to a statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The two sites were used by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and groups linked to Iran, the Department of Defense said.
“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Austin said in his statement.
No details were shared on how many people were killed or injured in the air strikes, nor did the Pentagon say what type of aircraft carried out the strike.
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In a statement similar to Austin’s, U.S. Central Command head Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said that the air strikes were done “in response to continued provocations by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their affiliated groups in Iraq and Syria.”
It is unclear if today’s airstrikes were prompted by any recent action against American forces in the Middle East. After the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, the United States sent additional forces to the Middle East. Soon after, U.S. installations in Syria and Iraq were attacked multiple times. U.S. officials have accused Iranian-linked groups of carrying out the attacks. In the most recent update by the Pentagon on Thursday, Nov. 9, American and coalition forces had been attacked “at least 46 times to date, 24 separate times in Iraq and 22 separate times in Syria by a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets.” The attacks over the last month have injured 56 people, according to the Department of Defense.
Today’s strikes are the latest of several American airstrikes on Iran-linked militias in response to those attacks. The most recent prior operation, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, saw two F-15s hitting a weapons depot in eastern Syria. Austin called that mission a “self-defense strike.”
The targeted area in today’s airstrikes was approximately 400 kilometers away from the U.S. garrison at al-Tanf.
This is a developing story.
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