One dead and several wounded soldiers was the result of a drone strike on a US military base in Syria.
A drone strike on a US military base in northeastern Syria killed one US contractor, wounded another and wounded five US military soldiers, the Pentagon said late Thursday.
“An American contractor died. Five Army soldiers, plus another US contractor, were injured after an unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility at the Coalition base near Hasakah in northeastern Syria,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
The wounded were flown to Iraq for medical treatment.
The intelligence services of the United States consider that the attack is of Iranian origin, for which the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, ordered the Army to carry out air strikes against facilities linked to Tehran.
“Following the instructions of the president, (Joe) Biden, I have authorized the forces of the Central Command of the United States to carry out precision air strikes tonight in eastern Syria,” Austin detailed.
The defense secretary indicated that the retaliatory attacks are directed against facilities used by “affiliated groups” to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
The intelligence services of the United States consider that the attack is of Iranian origin, for which the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, ordered the Army to carry out air strikes against facilities linked to Tehran.
“Airstrikes have been carried out in response to today’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks on coalition forces in Syria by IRGC-affiliated groups,” he explained.
The head of the Pentagon assured that these attacks “have the objective of protecting and defending US personnel,” according to a statement.
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary steps to defend our people and we will always respond at the time and place we choose,” Austin said. “No group will attack our troops with impunity.”
On the other hand, the United States once again asked countries that have citizens interned in camps for ex-combatants and relatives of the Islamic State (IS) in northeastern Syria to continue repatriating them, which it considers “the only lasting solution” to the problem.
“The United States remains committed to this cause, leading by example by repatriating US citizens. We stand ready to help other countries with logistics,” Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.
In his letter, Patel recalled that during 2022, 3,000 foreign people were repatriated from the northeastern Syrian camps, Al Hol and Roj, mainly Iraqis.
The United States once again asked countries that have citizens interned in camps for ex-combatants and relatives of the Islamic State (IS) in northeast Syria to continue repatriating them, which it considers “the only lasting solution” to the problem. (AP)
The figures are in line with those collected by the NGO Human Rights Watch, which at the end of the year issued a report recalling that there are still more than 40,000 foreigners in the camps, many of them women and children.
At the beginning of January, Spain repatriated two women and thirteen minors in their care from Syria, both wives of jihadists and who had participated in activities to recruit fighters for the terrorist group.
The US recalled that the terrorist group continues to represent a threat, and in particular for the people held in the camps in northeastern Syria, most of whom are minors.
(With information from AFP, Europa Press and EFE)
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