A drone attack on a military base housing US troops in Syria has killed at least six allied Syrian fighters, the first major attack since Washington launched retaliatory strikes against Iran-aligned militias accused of targeting its forces in the region.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a shadowy umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that the US has blamed for the killing of three of its troops last month, claimed responsibility for the latest assault in the early hours of Monday, which struck a training facility at the al-Omar oilfield within a US military compound.
The group, which released a video on Monday taking responsibility for the strike, has claimed more than 160 attacks against US troops since mid-October and has repeatedly demanded the removal of US forces from the region.
The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, key allies in the US-led coalition fighting the remnants of Islamist militant group Isis, blamed “Iran-backed militias” for the latest attack.
The SDF said the drone used in Monday’s strike was launched from Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, an area controlled by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran. The SDF “assert our right to respond appropriately”, it said in a statement.
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