(Washington) The United States on Wednesday struck a “weapons storage facility” in Syria it says is linked to Iran, in response to attacks on American personnel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd said Austin.
Attacks on American sites have increased in Syria and Iraq in the context of the war in Gaza, with the United States having provided military support to Israel.
“US military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a site in eastern Syria used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups,” the Pentagon chief said in a statement.
“This strike was carried out by two American F-15s against a weapons storage facility,” he said.
According to him, the strike is “a response to a series of attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria”, attacks attributed to pro-Iranian forces present, like the American army, in these two countries.
This is the second US strike in Syria in two weeks.
The United States “is fully prepared to take further necessary measures” to protect its military and installations, Lloyd Austin warned.
“Nine people working for groups supported by Iran were killed in American strikes on sites used by pro-Iranian groups” in Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based NGO.
Drone shot down by Houthis
Wednesday’s strike was accompanied by “very clear communication via different channels,” said a senior American official. “And this message to the Iranian leaders is: ‘we want you to order the groups [proches de vous] to stop attacking us,” he said.
A source within the United States Department of Defense also confirmed that Yemen’s Houthi rebels had shot down an American drone off the coast of this war-torn country.
Close to Iran, the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, had announced this action targeting, according to them, an “espionage” apparatus acting as part of “American military support” to Israel .
The war in Gaza, a Palestinian territory under Israeli blockade, began after the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 in Israel, which left more than 1,400 dead according to the Israeli authorities.
Israel responded by shelling Gaza, territory controlled by the Palestinian movement, for a month, killing more than 10,500 people, according to the Hamas-linked Health Ministry.
The United States quickly provided military support to Israel, but fears the conflict could spread to the region, where the Israeli response on Gaza has been denounced.
Around 2,500 American troops are in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group.