Airstrikes carried out by the US military targeted Iranian-backed groups in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, US Central Command said in a statement. The attacks targeted “infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesman, said in the statement.
“At the direction of President Biden, US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect US forces from attacks like those on August 15 against US personnel by Iran-backed groups,” he said. he said, referring to last week’s attack on the Green Village base near the Iraqi border. That attack did not cause damage or injuries.
Biden, according to the statement, “directed these attacks pursuant to his Article II authority to protect and defend U.S. personnel by disrupting or deterring attacks by Iran-backed groups.”
Buccino told CNN that the US targeted a group of bunkers used for munitions storage and logistical support by Iran-backed groups in Syria. The U.S. military extensively monitored a total of 13 bunkers at the same complex, Buccino said, totaling more than 400 hours of surveillance.
The attack targeted 11 of the bunkers because the United States could not be sure whether the other two bunkers were free of people, Buccino said.
But shortly before CENTCOM conducted the strike, the military removed two more bunkers because of a small group of people nearby. In the end, Buccino said the military hit nine bunkers in the compound in eastern Syria.
The purpose of the strike was to destroy the bunkers, Buccino said, and according to an initial assessment, no one was killed as a result.
“The attack in eastern Syria was in response to attacks by Iran-backed groups against US forces in Syria on August 15 and demonstrates our determination to defend the forces and equipment of the USA,” said General Erik Kurilla, commander of US Central Command.
Although the airstrike on the bunkers was in response to the Aug. 15 attack, Buccino said Iran-backed militias did not use the bunkers to carry out that particular attack.
The base attacked earlier this month contains a “small number” of coalition forces, including US service members, an official said earlier. Several of the rockets failed to launch and were recovered by US-led coalition forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces. And earlier last week, several drones were repelled in an attack near the At-Tanf base in southern Syria.
At the time of last week’s strikes, the coalition did not say who was responsible for any of the attacks. However, Iranian-backed militias in the region have frequently attacked US troops in Syria and Iraq.
In January, the US military carried out strikes in Syria after indirect fire posed what a US-led coalition official called “an imminent threat” to troops near Green Village.
The US maintains approximately 900 troops in Syria, largely spread between the At-Tanf base and the oil fields in the east of the country.
This story has been updated with additional details.