Three American bases in Eastern Syria were targeted with rockets and drones on Friday. One American soldier was injured in the attack. The American bases came under fire after the US carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria.
The violence in Syria escalated on Thursday when a US outpost was attacked. One contractor was killed by a drone strike. Additionally, five soldiers and one contractor were wounded. The Pentagon claimed it had intelligence that the drones used in the attack were of "Iranian origin."
Biden responded by authorizing airstrikes against groups affiliated with Iran in the regions. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said American forces conducted "airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)." It is estimated that 19 soldiers were killed by the American bombs.
Tehran said there would be a "counter-response" to the airstrikes. “Any pretext to attack bases created at the request of the Syrian government to deal with terrorism and Islamic State elements in this country will be met with an immediate counter-response,” Keyvan Khosravi, spokesperson for the Supreme National Security Council of Iran warned.
The Pentagon also warned it would respond to further attacks. "We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks," a statement from CENTCOM Commander, General Michael "Erik" Kurilla said.
On Friday, National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby stated Biden immediately authorized the airstrikes after learning about Thursday’s attack. “He made the decision very, very shortly in that discussion to authorize the strikes against these particular targets,” He added, “We are not seeking a conflict with Iran.”
Three additional attacks against American outposts occurred on Friday. The first incident occurred around 8 am and resulted in some civilian casualties. “March 24th, at approximately 8:05 am local time, 10 rockets targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria.” According to a statement from Central Command, “The attack resulted in no injuries to US or coalition personnel and no damage to equipment or facilities. One of the rockets missed the facility by almost five kilometers, striking a civilian house, causing significant damage and causing minor injuries to two women and two children."
Later in the day, the US military bases at the Al-Omar and Conoco oil fields were hit with rockets and drones. Fewer details have been reported for these attacks. Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin tweeted that a US official said "one involved Iranian proxy forces firing rockets. A second involved multiple Iranian drones."
Tehran entered the Syrian war at the request of Damascus. Iranian support forces have helped to push back jihadist groups. However, the Syrian government and its partner forces, including ones backed by Iran, have come into conflict with American forces as well. As part of its economic war against Damascus, Washington occupies the eastern third of Syria, including where most of the country’s oil and wheat resources are located. Damascus views the American forces as illegally occupying Syrian territory.
The US has an estimated 900 troops in Eastern Syria. Those forces have come under attack about 80 times since 2021.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
According to a statement from Central Command, “The attack resulted in no injuries to US or coalition personnel and no damage to equipment or facilities. One of the rockets missed the facility by almost five kilometers, striking a civilian house, causing significant damage and causing minor injuries to two women and two children.”
Amazingly they missed everything but a civilian house. They couldn’t have done that if they tried but it’s story telling time and when no one questions those stories, why stop?
Another story never questioned is “ISIS”. Since there is no ISIS. any more as no funding is provided by regionsl states — who is this new mysterious ISIS? Just struck in Hama province kidnapping and killing some farmers. Where did the “ISIS” come from? Why, from US/Kurd controlled territoty, of course!
I have a sneaky feeling that taxpayers’ money is funding this,
Ditto THAT!!!
CIA active involvement with terrorism began in 1947 with Operation Aerodynamic. They never stopped.
American taxpayers are funding all American wars of aggression, everyone knows it. The terrorist groups operating in Syria are also financed mostly from the same source. It would be much better for everyone, except the criminals, if US government uses American budget money for making life better for American people rather than making life worse for the people in other continents.
7 reported casualties. That seems kinda low for a base of hundreds.
If there was a stranger in your house and he decided to live there and steal your food and whatever and you had no laws to resort to to get rid of him, what would you do?
If it walks like a war, talks like a war, it must be a war…
Yes it is. I hate to blame the victims but this is a consequence of complete submission of Americans to so-called “ruling elite”
Cowards pay twice the price and that applies to Kremlin and Beijing as well.
“… Damascus views the American forces as illegally occupying Syrian territory. …”
Why or, more importantly, how could any sentient human being write those words?
Putting aside “International Law”; as well as the United Nations Charter, and, of course, the United States Constitution, the reason, logic and common sense grounds for writing those words are:
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
We all must immediately go to our checkbooks, credit cards or internet pay mechanisms and donate, donate most handsomely, to “Antiwar, Libertarian Institute and, most definitely, directly to Kyle Anzalone.
That is certainly why and how I read Antiwar.
dennis hanna
Is this to warn MBS off re-opening embassy in Damascus.
Interesting perspective… I think it’s direct opposite. I see it as the consequence of normalization of relations between Persians and Arabs.
Yes. They’re cousins. And they need to reunite against Anglo aggression.
So if it seems that a group affiliated with Iran carries out the attack, go kill some Iranians or their allies.
Why are we even there in Syria? There is no legal or moral justification whatsoever for us occupying Syria. We are acting like common thieves stealing Syria’s oil. Get the hell out of there!
Well , that’s EXACTLY why we’re there, Pal, because we ARE common thieves.
Haven’t you heard…? We are there to fight nonexistence terrorism…!
The Pentagon claimed it had intelligence…
Stop right there.
Bear, is it possible that “intelligence” is just an Amerikkkan code word for “we don’t know what the f*ck we’re doing?”
Yes,,, “We don’t know what the f*ck we’re doing, but we have to do it anyway to keep the mic going”…!
Good. About time to get Pentagon terrorists out of Syria. Bombing of US bases need to continue and with greater force. I’d argue for attacks on Pentagon bases all over Mideast, not just in Syria.
Agree, Ivan, and start with the enormous stockpile of Amerikkkan weapons in IsraHell. Bring on the fireworks.
“As part of its economic war against Damascus, Washington occupies the eastern third of Syria, including where most of the country’s oil and wheat resources are located. Damascus views the American forces as illegally occupying Syrian territory.” Sounds remarkably like what we are complaining about Russia doing in Ukraine. just substitute the players, “As part of its economic war against Kiev, Moscow occupies the eastern third of Ukraine, including where most of the country’s oil and wheat resources are located. Kiev views the Russian forces as illegally occupying Ukrainian territory.”
Oh, the Irony.
Yeah with one slight, tiny difference. There were never any people speaking Germanic languages in Syria. That part of Syria never had any kind of Germanic tribes and Damascus was never a capital of England.
Occupation of Kiev by Anglo-American empire was a fatal mistake. It cannot be forgiven.
You don’t have the right to invade a country because linguistic similarities or common history. That is what World War II was about.
Based on your logic Ukraine would have the right to launch raids into Russia. And the UK would have the right to invade Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa or even the US and Canada. The principle you espoused is nothing but racist great Russian chauvinism. It only works for the great imperial power, not the dependency. Ukraine is a separate nation. That is what the Ukrainian people want. Many many more people have died in Putin’s unjustified war than would have died if Putin had done the civilized thing and treated the alleged oppression of ethnic Russians in Ukrainian territory as an internal Ukrainian matter.
Ukraine has accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC on crimes committed in its territory. If Putin initiated an ICC investigation., tens of thousands of people who were killed in the past year would still be alive.
As for Russia’s legitimate security concerns about NATO expansion blow back is triumphant again. Fifteen months ago Putin was worried about the threat of war on Russia’s southern border. Now he is fighting a forever war on that border. Fifteen months ago Putin was concerned about NATO expanding to Russia’s southern border. Now NATO is supplying a war on Russia’s Southern Border.
Putin’s idiotic war is based on racist Russian chauvinism and has hurt Russia as well as devastating Ukraine and hurting the entire world.
US imperialism is the worst imperialism in the present day. But Russian imperialism is also bad. The Russian empire was overthrown by the Bolsheviks and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Don’t try to resurrect the dead Russian Empire in the 21st century. Let it rest in peace of the damned dead Czars and Commissars.
I am anti war because I am against imperialism. That includes Russian imperialism as well as US imperialism. Russian exceptionalism is as repugnant as US exceptionalism. They are both evil ideologies to justify evil empires.
Do you understand that Ukraine was invaded and occupied in 2014 by the Anglo-American empire? It is NOT a free and sovereign country. It is occupied territory and Russians see this invasion in the same light as all other invasions for the past 2000 years.
Ukraine was not invaded and occupied by US and UK. That is a fantasy. US and UK encouraged the Maidan coup, but the Maidan Revolution was a complicated phenomenon, not something created by the US/UK. The vast majority of Ukrainians including ethnic Russians were fed up with Yanukovych. Even the deputies from his own pro-Russian party voted almost unanimously to remove Yanukovych from office. Ukraine is an independent country and Russia has no more right to invade Ukraine,that the US would have to invade Canada if Canada chose an anti-American government.
Ukraine has to deal with its own problems in its own way. And Russia needs to deal with its differences with Ukraine in a civilized manner.
Bullshit. Pentagon terrorists killed 100 people in Kiev and started the civil war. There are videos of Pentagon maggots in Mariupol.
Just a fact that Anglo-American propaganda was supporting the neonazi riot would be enough to convince me that it was an imperial invasion. Never mind Nuland openly dictating who should be part of imperial puppet regime.
The US cannot “create” a mass movement or a civil war. On rare occassions, the US can create a military coup, like in Iraq in 1953 or Chile in 1971. But mass movements powerful enough to destabilize a government are always indigenous. The US has tried many times to instigate mass movement in Venezuela, Iran and Cuba.
Maidan was a popular uprising based on widespread discontent with Yankuvych and the attempts by Putin to re-establish a Russian imperial sphere of influence encompassing Ukraine and the other former Soviet Republics. The US opportunistically used right wing forces produce apro-Western regime in 2014. But Ukrainians have been stabilizing since then and in legislative and presidential elections the radical right was marginalized.
The thing which unites Ukrainians is a desire to be independent, especially independent from their former Russian overlords. They have the right to that independence and have chosen to fight for their self-determination.
No, it wasn’t. It was imperial propaganda, sabotage, brainwashing, robbery and abuse of Ukrainian people by imperial parasites since the destruction of USSR.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t speak the language, don’t understand the culture, don’t know history.
And it doesn’t matter. This discussion is completely pointless since all Russians and majority of Ukrainians know who is responsible for the death and suffering in Ukraine.
Your view of Ukraine and Maidan is hopelessly oversimplified. You need to understand Ukrainian history and culture. You seem to be blinded by Russian chauvinism, like Putin. Are you Russian?
Whether or not Ivan is Russian is beside the point. If he is indeed Russian he has a perfect right to be what you call “ chauvinistic” in regards to the nation of his ancestry. I personally am half Québécois, and I wish Quebec would tell Ottawa to take a hike and secede from Amerikkka’s little puppet.
No one has a right to be racist and that is what ideologies like Great Russian Chauvinism, American Exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, Zionism, Master Race and White Man’s Burden have in common. All of us,including Ivan, have an obligation to be empathetic toward other people’s culture, especially when we are members of a group that historically oppressed those people. Russia has a history of imperialism in the Ukraine. And Russians have a history of blindness toward the reality experienced by their imperial subjects. Ivan’s myopic comments reflect the same racist Great Russian Chauvinism Putin displayed in his February 22, 2022 speech where he ridiculously declared that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people.”
While you make some good points, I fail to see how Ivan’s comments can be construed as “racist”.
The idea that Ukrainians are a “made-up people” who don’t have a right to self determination and independene is as racist as the Zionist’s who say Palestinians are a “made up people.” Both ideas areracist reflections of an imperialist.
Ultimately people determine whether they are a separate nation. If Uainians believe that they are a nation and are willing to fiht for their national identity, it does not matter what Russians think.
Kirby/ByeDone: “ We do not seek war with Iran”.
Well el-stupidos, that would be a very wise choice considering the 🇮🇷🇷🇺🇨🇳 alliance.
Contractor = MERCENARY not to mention the fact the US is in Syria ILLEGALLY under International law , but when has International Law bothered the yanks ?.
Again the ICC is asleep at wheel. this is an illegal occupation of a sovereign state, The supreme international crime of aggression. But Putin is protecting children from war atrocities……..Arrest him now.
The ICC’s jurisdiction extends to:
1) Actions IN Rome Statute party states; and
2) Actions BY Rome Statute Party states.
Neither the US nor Syria is a Rome Statute party state.
The ICC claiming jurisdiction over US actions in Syria would be like the traffic court of Normandy, Missouri claiming jurisdiction over a Swede running a stop sign in Pyongyang.
There is actually a third basis for ICC jurisdiction – when a non-Party state has accepted jurisdiction of the ICC over crimes committed in the territory of the non-party state. Ukraine is not a party to the Rome Statute but has accepted the court’s jurisdiction over war crimes committed in Ukrainian territory after 2013. That is how the court got jurisdiction to charge Putin with war crimes committed in Ukraine.
https://www.icc-cpi.int/situations/ukraine
True, and I’ve mentioned that third basis before.
It should be eliminated. “Subject to ICC jurisdiction when we like it, not subject to ICC jurisdiction when we don’t like it” is an extraordinarily dumb way of doing things.
It is better to have sometime jurisdiction than no jurisdiction. I would like to expand the jurisdiction of the ICC as much as possible. I would prefer if all nations joined unconditionally. But the conditional option helps prosecute more war crimes.
In other news, ISIS is back. In Syria. Imagine that.
The fact that the U.S. military bases were at the Al-Omar and Conoco oil fields speaks loudly about U. S. involvement in Syria.
“More US Airstrikes in Syria Kill at Least 19, Multiple American Bases Attacked President
Joe Biden ordered airstrikes on groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps. Three US outposts in eastern Syria were
attacked the day after.”
There must be a magic wheel to spin in Washington with platitudes arranged on it. When America needs a reason to attack other nations they just spin the wheel like a game show and pick the reason for military action that comes up.
The talking heads in a press conference then spews the reason for military action as propaganda to Americans who just nod their heads in agreement like sheep.
Freedom, Democracy, Navigation of the Sea, Putin, Regime Change, Ethnic Group Protection, Bleeding Russia, LGBTQ Rights, Protecting a Friendly Government, Killed an American citizen working as a Contractor, on and on. Feel free to add to the multiple reasons America gives for killing foreign citizens in military actions.