The attempted attack resulted in no casualties or damage, said a layoff by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, the global coalition to defeat what remains of the ISIS Caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
US-led coalition forces repelled all but one of the drones that attacked near the At-Tanf base. A drone detonated inside an area used by Maghaweir al-Thowra partner forces, resulting in “zero casualties or reported damage,” the release said.
“We have confidence in our ability to protect our troops and coalition partners from aerial attack,” said Col. Joe Buccino, director of public affairs for United States Central Command, in the press release. “Our countermeasures are working.”
The coalition forces “successfully attacked a drone and prevented its effects,” the press release said. Other drones that attempted to strike “were unsuccessful,” the press release added.
Operation Inherent Resolve did not say who was responsible for the drone strikes. However, Iranian-backed militias in the region have frequently targeted US troops in Syria and Iraq.
Maj. Gen. John Brennan, commander of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, said the attack undermined the “significant efforts of our partner forces to maintain the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
“Such attacks endanger the lives of innocent Syrian civilians and undermine the significant efforts of our partner forces to permanently defeat ISIS,” Brennan said. “Coalition personnel retain the right to self-defense and we will take appropriate action to protect our forces.”
The US maintains about 900 troops in Syria, mostly split between the At-Tanf base and the country’s eastern oil fields.
The base is located in a 20-square-mile decon conflict zone near Syria’s border with Jordan, set up by Russia and the US-led coalition to prevent the two sides from accidentally coming into contact.
The area has seen heavy fighting between US forces and ISIS, which has gained a foothold in the area, in recent years.
In January, the US military staged strikes in Syria after indirect fire posed what US-led coalition troops described as an “imminent threat” near Green Village, a base in the east of the country near the Iraqi border.
Although there was no specific attribution for the indirect fire, then Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the US continues to see threats against US forces in the region from Iran-backed militias.
“In just the past few days, acts have been committed by some of these groups that confirm the continuing concerns we had about the safety of our people,” Kirby said at a press conference in January.