The Pentagon announced that two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were shot as they attempted to target a U.S. base in Syria Monday, as the country blamed Iran for recent drone attacks.
Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack U.S. interests over Washington's support for Israel since the Hamas group killed more than 1,400 people in a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated by conducting inhumane attacks on civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, bakeries, refugee camps and marketplaces.
Israel's retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 5,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
"There was an attempted drone attack at Al-Tanf in Syria. Two one-way attack drones taken down; no injuries to US forces," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told journalists.
The drones were downed using "defensive systems," he said, without providing further details.
An American defense official had previously said on condition of anonymity that an attack in Syria had targeted forces from the United States and the international coalition against the Daesh terrorist group.
Neither Ryder nor the official provided details on the organization that carried out the attack, but a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said earlier in the day that it had launched drones against American forces at Al-Tanf and Al-Malikiyah in Syria.
The same group also claimed to have targeted U.S. troops in Iraq on Saturday – an attack the United States said it could not confirm – while American forces shot down two drones in the country last week.
The United States has some 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Washington accused Iran of "actively facilitating" a series of recent attacks on its U.S. bases in the Middle East and vowed to protect its interests.
Speaking at a press briefing at the White House, National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby said there has been an "uptick" in rocket and drone attacks over the course of the last week, against military bases housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria. He blamed Iranian-backed proxy groups.
"We are deeply concerned about the potential for any significant escalation of these attacks," said Kirby.
"Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran," he added.
"We know Iran's goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we're not going to allow them to do that," said the spokesperson.
He recalled that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the U.S. military to take steps to ensure that the Pentagon is "postured appropriately, both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as needed."
Kirby also cautioned that the U.S. military's capabilities are getting bigger and better every day.
Earlier, an attack involving two drones targeted the al-Tanf garrison, a base in southeastern Syria. Since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, U.S. forces have faced repeated missile and drone attacks, blamed on Iran-backed groups.
Last Wednesday, U.S. forces stationed at the at-Tanf garrison came under attack from two drones.
Separately, in Iraq, two drones targeted the al-Asad Airbase on Tuesday.