Iraqi Group Claims Responsibility for US Base Attack in Syria

Sunday, 26 March 2023 4:32 PM  

In this file picture, American soldiers walk while on patrol by the Suwaydiyah oil fields in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah. (By AFP)

An Iraqi group has taken responsibility for a recent drone attack targeting a US-occupied base in northeastern Syria, which resulted in the death of an American contractor and injuries to at least five troops.

In a statement on Sunday, Liwa al-Ghaliboun said the group succeeded in conducting the operation on Thursday in legitimate response to brutal and terrorist crimes committed by the American occupation forces in the country and elsewhere in the region.

It warned of more precise operations using continuously developing weapons against the American occupying forces until their complete withdrawal from their country.

Americans will never feel safe in Iraq and beyond until their full withdrawal from the country, the group warned.

The Pentagon stated that a base near Hasakah in northeast Syria was targeted at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time (1038 GMT) on Thursday.

US warplanes subsequently launched several strikes on the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr, targeting the positions of resistance fighters.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the strikes were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden, claiming that they targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

However, local sources pointed out that the target was not an Iran-aligned military post, but rather, a rural development center and a grain center in Hrabash neighborhood, near Dayr al-Zawr military airport. No Iranian was killed in the act of aggression.

In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the US strikes, saying the raids are a cover-up for Washington’s ferocious attempts to further plunder energy resources there.

An Iranian official on Saturday rejected US allegations that Tehran was involved in the attack on American forces, saying the US is trying to divert attention from its illegal occupation of Syria.

Keyvan Khosravi, the spokesman for Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), warned that the Islamic Republic will give a prompt response to any pretext for an attack on bases inside Syria established at the Syrian government’s request for the purpose of fighting terrorism.

Attacks on US-occupied bases in Syria have been on the rise as Washington has made it clear that it has no intention of putting an end to its illegal occupation of the Arab country.

The US claims its presence in Syria aims to fight the Daesh terrorist group. The Damascus government, however, maintains that Washington has been supporting the terrorist group in order to prolong its occupation of Syria and looting of Syrian natural resources.