Al-Tanf targeting is Iranian response to Israeli attacks in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The October attack on the US military base in al-Tanf, southeast Syria, was a response by Iran to the Israeli airstrikes on Syria, The New York Times cited, yesterday, American and Israeli officials as saying.
On October 20, five drones targeted the US military base al-Tanf, which is used by the US-led Global Coalition, which was described by US Department of Defense as it was “deliberate and coordinated.”
Only two drones detonated on impact, but they were loaded with ball bearings and shrapnel with a “clear intent to kill,” a senior US military official said.
US officials said they believed that Iran directed and supplied the proxy forces that carried out the attack, according to The New York Times.
However, both Israeli and US intelligence officials said they had intelligence indicating that Iran was behind the operation. Because three of the drones did not explode, American officials were able to study them and determine that they employed the same technology as drones used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
Most of the 200 American soldiers stationed at the base, whose main role is training Syrian militias to fight the Islamic State, had been evacuated hours earlier after being tipped off by Israeli intelligence, the officials said.
Although Iran did not claim responsible for the attack, The New York Times described “it would be the first time Iran has directed a military strike against the United States in response to an attack by Israel, an escalation of Iran’s shadow war with Israel that poses new dangers to US forces in the Middle East.”