At least 17 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed in a US strike on Shiite militia targets in Syria overnight Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday.
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The United States struck pro-Iranian targets inside Syria, Thursday night, in response to a Shiite militia missile strike targeting the US Embassy inside Baghdad's Green Zone.
The US strikes were the first such attack by Washington since US President Joe Biden took office in January.
Among the targets of the US strikes were a special border crossing built by Iran's Revolutionary Guards near the Al Qaim Border Crossing adjacent to the village of Al Bukamal in eastern Syria. Pro-Iranian militias have used the border crossing to transfer equipment, forces, and weapons from its territory in Iraq to Syria. According to numerous reports, the crossing also served the Revolutionary Guards' adjacent Imam Ali military base.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported three trucks carrying munitions were taken out in the attack.
"There were heavy losses in the attack. At least 17 fighters were killed," Rami Abdul Rahman told Agence France-Presse, Friday.
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters the strike was carried out "at President Joe Biden's orders." He said the strikes were not just carried out in response to earlier attacks by Shia militias but "to protect American and coalition personnel" in Iraq and Syria in the future.
No casualties have yet to be reported. While media outlets aligned with the Syrian regime did not report on the strike, a few outlets aligned with rebel fighters in the country did and quoted US officials in their reporting.
Noting he had recommended Biden order the attack in response to the Feb. 15 strike on US targets in Iraq, US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin said, "We're confident in the target we went after, we know what we hit. We're confident that the target was being used by the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes."
Earlier this week, media outlets aligned with opposition forces in Syria reported the Revolutionary Guards had transferred rocket launchers through the Syrian border crossing and stationed them at the Imam Ali base. A large shipment of weapons was also reported to have been transferred to pro-Iranian militias active in the area, chief among them Kata'ib Hezbollah in Iraq.
Two weeks ago, a contractor was killed and several US soldiers were wounded when missiles were fired at a US air base at Erbil National Airport, in Iraq's Kurdistan region. While no organization claimed responsibility for the attack, US officials believe it was carried out by Shia militias in the country.
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