US-led coalition forces repulsed all but one of the drones that attacked the At-Tanf base area. A drone exploded inside a compound used by allied forces Maghaweir al-Thowra resulting in “zero casualties or reported damage,” the statement said.
“We are confident in our ability to protect our troops and Coalition partners from air attack,” Col. Joe Buccino, director of public affairs for the United States Central Command, said in the release. “Our countermeasures are effective.” Coalition forces “successfully engaged a” drone “preventing its impact,” the statement said. Other drones that attempted strikes “were not successful,” the statement added. Operation Inherent Resolve did not say who was responsible for the drone attacks. However, Iranian-backed militias in the region have frequently targeted US troops in Syria and Iraq. Maj. Gen. John Brennan, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve, said the attack undermines the “important efforts of our Joint Forces to sustain the sustained defeat of ISIS.” “Such attacks put the lives of innocent Syrian civilians at risk and undermine the important efforts of our Joint Forces to sustain the lasting defeat of ISIS,” Brennan said. “Coalition personnel reserve the right to self-defense and we will take appropriate measures to protect our forces.” The US maintains about 900 troops in Syria, largely split between the At-Tanf base and the country’s eastern oil fields. The base is inside a 20-square-mile deconfliction zone near Syria’s border with Jordan, which was created by Russia and the US-led coalition to prevent the two sides from coming into accidental contact. The area has seen heavy fighting in recent years between US forces and ISIS, which has gained a foothold in the area. In January, the US military carried out raids in Syria after indirect fire posed what a US-led coalition official called an “imminent threat” to troops near Green Village, a base in the east of the country near the border with Iraq. While there was no specific attribution for the indirect fire, then-Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the US continued to see threats against US forces in the region from Iranian-backed militias. “Just in the last few days, there have been acts committed by some of these groups that validate the ongoing concerns we’ve had about the safety and security of our people,” Kirby said at a news conference in January.