Iran resourced and facilitated last week’s drone attack on the American military base in southern Syria, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The al-Tanf garrison, where U.S. troops and Syrian opposition forces are stationed, was hit by as many as five Iranian explosive-laden drones on Oct. 20, the officials said. The drones were not launched from Iran.
There were no reported injuries or deaths as a result of this Iran-backed attack on the al-Tanf base, located near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan.
At a media briefing on Monday, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby called it a “complex, coordinated and deliberate attack” similar to the ones previously conducted by Iran-affiliated Shia militia groups. He declined to say whether the U.S. intends to make a military response.
“If there is to be a response, it will be at a time and a place and a manner of our choosing, and we certainly won't get ahead of those kinds of decisions,” Kirby added.
Kirby did not say whether the troops were warned ahead of time, but Fox News claims the U.S. military was tipped off prior to the attack, saving many lives.
The attack on al-Tanf came a week after Iran-backed militias vowed a “harsh response” to Israel’s airstrike against their facilities near Palmyra. Pro-Iran media outlets claim it was carried out by “Syria’s allies” in retaliation to the Israeli strike, in which several of their fighters were reportedly killed.
