Second US base hit in Syria following retaliatory strikes

Rockets hit another U.S. base in Syria on Friday following a U.S. strike on facilities controlled by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The rocket attacks fired at the Green Village base, located in the Al-Omar gas field of northeastern Syria, caused no casualties, according to Maj. John Moore, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

Washington launched retaliatory strikes on Thursday night against Iranian-backed fighters after a drone strike killed a U.S. contractor and injured five American service members along with another contractor earlier that day.

The drone strike was carried out by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Pentagon, at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria around 1:38 p.m. local time on Thursday.

After carrying out the retaliatory strikes in response to the drone attack, CENTCOM’s commander, Gen. Michael Kurilla, said the U.S. will “always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing.”

“We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks,” Kurilla said in a statement. “The thoughts and prayers of US Central Command are with the family of our contractor killed and with our wounded servicemembers and contractor.

“Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria, but the entire region,” he continued.

About 900 American troops are based in eastern Syria to train and assist allied fighters in a conflict against the U.S.-designated terrorist group ISIS.

Iranian-backed groups have attacked U.S. troops in Syria at least 78 times since 2021, Kurilla told a House Armed Services Committee hearing this week.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) responded the amount of attacks was a “big number.”

“We should be focusing more on that, that Iran’s doing this,” he said.