A U.S. armored vehicle in Hassakeh province, Syria, April 20, 2022. Hundreds of U.S. soldiers are still deployed in northeast Syria as part of the coalition tasked with fighting the jihadists, along with their Kurdish allies the Syrian Democratic Forces, the last remnant of the Islamic State group. DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP
This is in response to an attack on an anti-jihadist coalition base: The US Army announced on Tuesday that it would bomb pro-Iranian militia bases in eastern Syria. These strikes took place in Deir ez-Zor province and targeted “infrastructure used by groups close to the Revolutionary Guards,” wrote the US Army Middle East Central Command (Centcom) in a press release on Wednesday, August 24 .
The Revolutionary Guard Corps, considered the Iranian regime’s ideological army, is blacklisted as a US “terrorist group”. These “precision strikes defend and protect US forces from attacks like those carried out by Iran-backed groups on Aug. 15,” Centcom spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said in a statement.
Statement on precision strikes in Syria https://t.co/ED69Xq0tm3 https://t.co/hpWw1NNMNV
The American air raid on Tuesday hit nine bunkers that were used primarily to store ammunition. later cleared to CNN Colonel Bucino. US forces “conducted this proportionate and deliberate operation to limit the risk of escalation and the risk of casualties,” he said.
The US bombing has not been confirmed by Syrian or Iranian state media. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) and Deir ez-Zor 24, quoted by the Associated Press, said the attacks were aimed at the Ayash camp, run by the Fatimiyoun group and made up of Shia fighters from Afghanistan. The OSDH stated that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed in these airstrikes.
Revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
On August 15, a drone was fired at a building at the American base in Al-Tanf, which houses Washington-backed Syrian opposition fighters. No injuries were reported. Hundreds of US troops are still deployed in north-eastern Syria as part of the anti-jihadist coalition responsible for the fighting with their Kurdish allies from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group.
This is not the first time the United States has conducted airstrikes in Syria or Iraq against Iran-allied groups. In June 2021, they attacked an operations center and an ammunition depot in two different locations in Syria.
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This operation comes as Washington planned to respond to a text proposed by the European Union aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also comes as an Iranian state media outlet on Sunday announced the death of a Revolutionary Guards general who was killed during an “operation” in Syria. No details were given on the circumstances of the general’s death, only referring to him as a “defender of the sanctuary,” a term used to describe those working on behalf of Iran in Syria or Iraq. Iran says it sent troops to Syria at the invitation of the Damascus regime and purely as advisers.
Also read: Iranian nuclear power: Tehran examines the “final text” presented by the EU.