Trio of suicide drones strike US base in Syria, wounding 2
Three suicide drones attacked a
U.S. base in eastern Syria on Friday, wounding two Syrian opposition fighters,
the U.S. military said. No Americans were hurt in the attack.
It was not clear who was behind
the drone attack, but Iran-backed fighters in the region have carried out such
operations in the past. Sleeper cells of the Islamic State group are also
active in the area.
Two of the drones were shot down
and the third struck the compound at al-Tanf base where the borders of Syria,
Iraq and Jordan meet, the U.S. military said.
The military said the drone that
struck the building wounded two members of the Syrian Free Army, who received
medical treatment.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the attack was
likely carried out by Iran-backed fighters who are deployed in different parts
of war-torn Syria.
“Attacks of this kind are
unacceptable — they place our troops and our partners at risk and jeopardize
the fight against ISIS,” U.S. military spokesman Joe Buccino said, using an acronym
for the Islamic State group.
There are roughly 900 U.S. troops
in Syria, including in the north and the farther south and east of the country.
