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US retaliates with airstrikes in Syria after Iranian drone strike kills US contractor

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  vic-eldred  •  last year  •  5 comments

By:   Lawrence Richard (Fox News)

US retaliates with airstrikes in Syria after Iranian drone strike kills US contractor
President Joe Biden authorized the U.S. military to conduct precisions airstrikes in Syria after Iranian forces killed an American at a military base earlier in the day.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T




U.S. CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla told senators Thursday that the Pentagon has seen an "increase recently in the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian air force."

The U.S. military carried out several precision airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, reportedly killing eight Iranians, in retaliation for a drone strike Iranian forces conducted earlier in the day on a coalition base that killed one American.

The Defense Department said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps crashed a UAV into a building near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time, leaving one U.S. contractor dead. The attack also wounded five U.S. service members and another U.S. contractor.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, two of the American strikes killed at least eight Iranian fighters.

A U.S. airstrike at an arms depot in Harabesh, in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour left six Iranian-backed fighters dead. A second U.S. bombing at a post near the town of Mayadeen killed another two fighters, according to the Observatory, whose reporting relies on local Syrian contacts.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaks during a briefing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley at the Pentagon in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

U.S. intelligence assessed the UAV that crashed into a coalition base, which killed the U.S. contractor, was of Iranian origin — so President Biden authorized the military to retaliate, the Pentagon said.

"At the direction of President Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)," said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. "The airstrikes were conducted in response to today's attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC."

The Observatory reported another American strike on a military post near the town of Boukamal, near the border with Iraq. Their report has not been independently verified.

Three service members and the U.S. contractor who were wounded in the initial attack were medically evacuated to Coalition medical facilities in Iraq while the other two wounded service members were treated on-site.

"As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing," Secretary Austin continued. "No group will strike our troops with impunity."

He added: "Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today."

General Michael Kurilla, the CENTCOM Commander, said the U.S. stands ready to retaliate against any such attacks on U.S. personnel.

"This evening, we responded to an attack on our forces that killed an American contractor and wounded our troops and another American contractor by striking facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This was another in a series of attacks on our troops and partner forces," Kurilla said.

Kurilla added: "We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks."

"The thoughts and prayers of US Central Command are with the Family of our contractor killed and with our wounded servicemembers and contractor," the CENTCOM Commander also said.

And: "Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria but the entire region."

The Pentagon said the U.S. took "proportionate and deliberate action" that limited the risk of escalation in its targeted response.

The U.S. has roughly 900 troops stationed in Syria.


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Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Vic Eldred    last year


Biden authorized the response to be in Syria.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
2  Ronin2    last year
"Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria but the entire region."

What the Brandon administration is leaving out is that the Iranians are there at the request of the Syrian government. The US forces aren't; and are supporting factions that are engaged in a civil war with the Syrian government.

The Syrian government has demanded the United States "immediately and unconditionally withdraw its military forces" from the country, just one day after rockets were fired near a base containing American troops.

The U.S. has around 900 soldiers in Syria, mostly split between the At-Tanf base in the south and the country's eastern oil fields.

They work with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a disproportionately Kurdish militia, to combat the remnants of ISIS .

However, the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad , has long considered their presence illegal and demanded they leave .

The Syrian Foreign Ministry reiterated this position in a statement on Monday that read: "The American side must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its military forces that are present on the territory of Syria illegally, refrain from stealing and smuggling Syrian oil and wheat, and lift the cover and protection from armed separatist groups and armed terrorist groups that are present."

Turkey supports ISIS/ISIL (who we are attacking); and some of the same Sunni factions that are fighting Assad that we do. But, they want to remove the Kurd threat in Syria- who are loyal to the same Kurdish faction that is considered a terrorist group in Syria. They Syrian government wants the US and Turkey out of it's country. They have a treaty with the Kurds to fight ISIS/ISIL.

In a renewed shift in alliances, the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria announced on Sunday a deal with President Bashar al-Assad ‘s government to allow Syrian troops to deploy along the border with Turkey to stave off a military offensive by Ankara. 

The pact , brokered by Russia, came hours after  the  United States  announced it was pulling its troops from Syria to avoid getting caught in clashes between the Turkish military and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). 

Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s commander in chief, said his people were forced into an alliance with Washington’s foes, Syria and Russia , because the US’s pullback had left them vulnerable to a Turkish assault.

Unfortunately Syria is beholden to Russia that worked out a different deal with Turkey.

But in a dramatic reversal in its foreign policy, Ankara is now looking to normalize relations with Damascus, in line with its broader policy of mending fences with its former regional rivals.

In late December, Erdogan sent his defense minister and intelligence chief to Moscow to discuss normalizing relations with the Syrian regime. Turkish officials say this will likely be followed by meeting between foreign ministers in February. Erdogan has even suggested he could soon meet Assad.

Turkish-Syrian normalization would be big news by all accounts. Ankara has long supported the opposition and anti-regime forces in Syria and controls a huge chunk of Syrian territory in the north. For the United States and European powers, Turkish-Syrian normalization would represent a dramatic shift, fundamentally altering the strategic calculus in Syria and directly threatening the position of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds — given that both Ankara and Damascus want to see their territorial control and autonomous governing curtailed or brought under the auspices of a centralized Syrian government.

What are we still doing there? Russian, Iran, Syria, and the Kurds (so long as Russian and Syria don't allow Turkey to wipe them out) can take care of ISIS/ISIL (assuming Turkey stops backing them).

When you need a score card to tell which ally/enemy is on your side at what time- it is past time to have gotten out. 

   
 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Vic Eldred  replied to  Ronin2 @2    last year

All good points.

Right now you are the bright light here.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
2.2  Greg Jones  replied to  Ronin2 @2    last year

"What are we still doing there?"

 Good question. Bring 'em home Brandon

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
2.2.1  Ronin2  replied to  Greg Jones @2.2    last year

Trump tried to; but we all know how the Pentagon and Congress rebuked him on that.

 
 

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