A Soldier deployed to At-Tanf Garrison, Syria, cleans an 81 mm mortar tube during a readiness exercise on April 22, 2020. Central Command Forces on Tuesday attacked Iran-backed militias in Syria. File Photo by Staff Sgt. William Howard/U.S. Army
Nov. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes Tuesday in Syria, targeting facilities of Iran-backed militias following rockets launched at U.S. forces in the Middle Eastern country.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that on Tuesday, its warplanes hit weapons storage facilities and logistics headquarters belonging to unspecified Iran-backed militias in Syria.
It said the strikes were intended to “degrade the Iranian-backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces who are in the region to conduct D-ISIS operations.”
Some 900 U.S. troops are on the ground in Syria in support of counter-Islamic State operations with local partners.
CENTCOM said the strikes were in response to a rocket attack targeting U.S. personnel stationed at Patrol Base Shaddadi in Eastern Syria.
No U.S. facilities were damaged in the attack, nor were U.S. or partner forces injured, it said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack on Patrol Base Shaddadi, stating it came a few hours after iranian militants fired on a U.S. base in the Deir Ezzor countryside
“We have made it clear that attacks on U.S. personnel, partner forces and facilities will not be tolerated and that we retain the right to defend ourselves,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement.
On Monday, CENTCOM forces hit nine targets of Iran-backed militias in two locations in Syria on Monday.
The British-based Syrian human rights monitor said four Iranian militants were killed in the CENTCOM strikes on Monday, and none others were reportedly severely injured.
The airstrikes come as Iran-proxy militias in the Syria have increased their attacks targeting U.S. personnel in the region amid Israel’s ongoing war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza. The conflict has since spread to Lebanon where Israel has been hammering Iran-backed Hezbollah.
According to SOHR, Iran-backed militias have conducted at least 155 attacks targeting coalition bases in Syria since Oct. 19. 2023, about two weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.