One Dead In Attack On U.S. Syria Base, Counterattack Kills 11

A strike Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023, by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a US contractor and wounded six soldiers in northeast Syria, and US forces retaliated with airstrikes on sites in Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Pentagon said, Lou Kesten, Bassem Mroue and Jon Gambrell reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The drone hit a coalition base in the northeast Syrian city of Hasaka.

Activists said the US bombing killed at least four people while a human rights group said 11 Iranian-backed fighters were killed.

While it’s not the first time the US and Iran have traded strikes in Syria, the attack and the US response threaten to upend recent efforts to deescalate tensions across the wider Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps toward détente in recent days after years of turmoil.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the American intelligence community had determined the drone was of Iranian origin, but offered no other immediate evidence to support the claim.

The drone hit a coalition base in the northeast Syrian city of Hasaka. The wounded included five American service members and a US contractor. Iranian-backed forces also retaliated against the air US strikes.

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