Eight militants were killed in last week’s US airstrikes in Syria that were directed at fighters supported by Iran, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
According to Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the combatants who were killed were connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but they were not Iranian.
According to Ryder, the drone and missile attacks caused traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in another six American soldiers.
Iran-backed militias and US forces engaged in a series of tit-for-tat engagements last Thursday after a drone attack on a US base resulted in the death of an American contractor and the injury of six additional Americans.
The US and coalition forces in Syria were the target of three further attacks, according to CENTCOM, on the evenings of March 24 and March 25. According to a major Syrian war monitor, at least 19 fighters were killed by US strikes.
Late on Friday, President Joseph Biden gave the go-ahead for the US military to postpone further attacks against the militias backed by Iran, according to a senior American official quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
Ryder defended the US approach when asked about it. In order to send a message that American personnel won’t be assaulted without consequence, Ryder stated, “We took action, we bombed two IRGC-Quds Force sites… and that was proportionate action.” To safeguard the safety of our personnel, “We will continue to take necessary action at a time and location of our choice.”
