US warns Iran after Syria strikes

US warns Iran after Syria strikes

Biden says 'not seeking conflict' with Tehran

DESERT STORM: US Army of American and coalition forces train in Syria, in this 2020 file photo. A US contractor was killed and five US service members injured when a self-destructing drone hit a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday.
DESERT STORM: US Army of American and coalition forces train in Syria, in this 2020 file photo. A US contractor was killed and five US service members injured when a self-destructing drone hit a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday.

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Friday warned Iran that the United States would "act forcefully" to protect Americans, after the US military carried out air strikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack in Syria.

Later, officials said that another US service member was wounded on Friday in the latest tit-for-tat strike between Iran-backed forces and US personnel in Syria.

That comes on top of seven casualties on Thursday, which Washington blamed on a drone of Iranian origin, and included an American contractor being killed and five US troops and another contractor being wounded.

The retaliatory strikes by the US on what it said were facilities in Syria used by groups affiliated to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps left a total of 19 dead, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The war monitor said air raids killed three Syrian troops, 11 Syrian fighters in pro-government militias and five non-Syrian fighters who were aligned with the government.

Pro-Iranian forces in Syria said in an online statement late Friday that they have a "long arm" to respond to further US strikes on their positions.

The violence could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran, as attempts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers stalled, and Iranian drones being used by Russia against Ukraine.

"Make no mistake: the United States does not ... seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people," Mr Biden said.

Asked whether there should be a higher cost for Iran, Mr Biden replied: "We're not going to stop."

The Pentagon had said US F-15 jets on Thursday attacked two facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Iran's state Press TV said earlier that no Iranians had been killed and quoted local sources as saying the target was not an Iran-aligned military post, but that a rural development centre and a grain centre near a military airport had been hit.

The US strikes were a response to a drone attack earlier on Thursday on a base near Hasakah in northeast Syria operated by a US-led coalition battling the remnants of Islamic State.

Three service members and a contractor required medical evacuation to Iraq, while two wounded American troops were treated at the base. On Friday, the Pentagon said the injured personnel were in stable condition.

Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared that the defensive system on the base had failed.

The Pentagon said the US military had a complete site picture in terms of radar, though one official told Reuters troops on the ground did not appear to have had enough time to react to the drone.

A US base at the Al-Omar oil field in Syria was attacked on Friday morning, according to the Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen and a security source.

It is not uncommon for Iranian-backed groups to fire missiles at US bases in Syria after they are hit with air strikes.

US forces first deployed into Syria during the Obama administration's campaign against Islamic State, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the east.

US troops have been attacked by Iranian-backed groups about 78 times since the beginning of 2021, according to the US military.

While the Islamic State has since lost control of the areas of Syria and Iraq that it ruled over in 2014, sleeper cells still carry out hit-and-run attacks in desolate areas where neither the US-led coalition nor the Syrian army exert full control. REUTERS

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