Tensions between the United States and Iran rose last week after Iranian proxy forces launched strikes against American outposts in Syria.
According to Fox News, two separate attacks were carried out on Friday near the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. One of the assaults consisted of a rocket barrage while the other involved multiple Iranian drones.
Fox News noted that Friday's attacks came a day after an earlier Iranian drone incident left one American dead. Another contractor and five U.S. military personnel were also wounded.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder serves as Pentagon press secretary, and he addressed Thursday's attack along with America's response at a news conference.
A U.S. contractor was killed and six other Americans in Syria were killed Thursday in a strike by a suspected Iranian-made drone.
U.S. forces retaliated with airstrikes, the Pentagon said. https://t.co/bnN48dcjkl pic.twitter.com/uqh9dvf3Bm
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 24, 2023
"Secretary Austin, at the direction of President Biden, authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision strikes into eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," Ryder explained.
"The air strikes were conducted in response to yesterday's attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC," he continued.
Ryder stated that "two U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter aircraft, assigned to U.S. Air Forces Central and based in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility, struck two IRGC-affiliated facilities at approximately 7:40 P.M. Eastern time, or 2:40 A.M. local."
"The facilities were located near Deir Ez-Zor in eastern Syria, and we're continuing to assess the outcome of the strikes. Initial indications are that the facilities were destroyed," the Pentagon press secretary declared.
Ryder insisted that the "precision strikes were intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel" and were "intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties."
"As Secretary Austin said in his statement, no group will strike our troops with impunity," he stressed, adding that the Department of Defense offers its "thoughts and prayers to the family and colleagues of the American contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack."
"Our forces deployed in Syria continue to conduct their important mission in support of the international coalition to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS," Ryder concluded.
However, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused President Joe Biden of pursuing policies that have emboldened Iran, telling Fox News, "They only know power, they only know seriousness."
"When we appease them, when we sit across the table from them and try and guarantee them the pathway to a nuclear weapon, or when we permit the Iranians to send drones to support the Russians to kill Ukrainian civilians who we're trying our best to prevent, this is the kind of thing you'll see the Iranians do," Pompeo complained.
