US base in Syria comes under drone attack from Iranian-backed groups

By Esref Musa and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

TAL ABYAD, Syria (AA) - A US military base in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province came under drone attack from Iranian-backed groups, local sources said Monday.

Iranian-backed groups stationed on the western bank of the Euphrates River attacked the Al-Omar oilfield, where US forces are stationed, with multiple kamikaze drones.

No casualties have been reported. The US has not released a statement so far on the attacks.

The US began carrying out airstrikes Friday against the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria after a suicide drone attack killed three American troops in Jordan last month.

The strikes were conducted with numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers that launched from the US, Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. In all, more than 85 targets were hit with more than 125 precision munitions.

The Iraqi government said at least 16 people were killed and 25 injured in the US attacks.

Since the beginning of the year, bases where US forces are deployed in Syria have been attacked at least five times with rockets and kamikaze drones of unknown origin.

Deir ez-Zor is under the occupation of the US-backed PKK/YPG terrorist organization, while the city center and other rural areas are under the control of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime and Iranian-backed groups.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar