The US military said Thursday that its retaliatory strikes killed eight Iranian-backed fighters in Syria last week, adding that several additional US soldiers suffered brain injuries.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. General Patrick Ryder said US airstrikes on March 24 near Deir ez-Zor in northeastern Syria targeted two facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Eight fighters were killed, according to Ryder, although it appears they were not Iranian citizens.
“As far as I know, not Iranians. These are people associated with the IRGC,” Ryder told reporters.
Ryder added that six US soldiers were found to have suffered traumatic brain injuries following attacks by Iranian-backed forces on US military positions in northeastern Syria on March 23-24.
Background: On March 23, a drone struck a facility used by the US military in Hasakah, in northeastern Syria. TO American contractor was killed and five US soldiers and another US contractor were wounded. The Defense Department said the drone was of Iranian origin. In response, CENTCOM carried out airstrikes against targets in eastern Syria that they said were used by IRGC-aligned groups. On March 24, another US military site known as Green Village in northeast Syria came under rocket fire, injuring a US soldier.
Ryder said the six people injured in the Hasakah drone strike and the one wounded in Green Village are in stable condition. He added that four of the soldiers who suffered brain trauma were near Hasakah, while the other two were in Green Village.
Why it matters: The tit-for-tat attacks last week marked a significant escalation in the conflict between US and pro-Iranian forces in the region. Although such attacks have occurred against the US military in Syria in the past, most recently in January with the drone attack on al-Tanf, this month’s strikes recorded higher casualties than in the past two years and exposed the vulnerability of the forces. Americans to drone strikes in Syria. Syria.
The attacks also occurred as Iran nears development nuclear-grade uranium. Last week, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told Congress that the United States has developed “multiple options” in the event that Iran develops a nuclear weapon.
