Attacks On US Bases In Syria Continue Unhindered After Pentagon’s Friday Airstrikes

Attacks on US military outposts in Iraq and Syria have continued over the weekend. Al-Mayadeen news and other regional outlets have reported that there have been several attacks by Iran-backed militias on Saturday and Sunday. Russian media has also reported on the fresh attacks, calling recent Pentagon airstrikes on Syria an “unsuccessful bid to deter the militias.”

A statement by a coalition of Shia paramilitary groups said, “The Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted the American occupation base in Al-Tanf, Syria, with two drones, which directly hit their targets.” They carried out the attack from just across the Iraq border into Syria.

Reports say separately that the al-Shaddadi base in eastern Syria was also hit with two drones, and al-Omar base and oil field was struck. The latter was reportedly attacked a mere hours after the US airstrikes.

Al-Mayadeen had says ago cited a statement from the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades which said the group is willing to fight “a war of attrition against the enemy that will extend for years.”

In the early hours of Friday, the US had sent fighter jets to attack multiple locations of Iran-linked paramilitaries in Syria. The Associated Press summarized the action based on US official statements as follows:

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday that the strikes near Boukamal by F-16 and F-15 fighter aircraft targeted a weapons storage facility and ammunition storage facility used by the IRGC and affiliated groups. “Both facilities were destroyed,” he said. “We currently assess there were no casualties in the strikes.”

“These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in the aftermath. 

“Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them. If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people,” he added. 

Iraqi Shia militias have released a video of them launching a suicide drone toward a U.S. military base.

A Palestinian flag is showed on the drone before it is launched.

More than 20 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in recent attacks on military bases in Syria and Iraq. pic.twitter.com/OB7VHDGsyb

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 28, 2023

But given the rocket and drone attacks have continued into the weekend, it’s become clear that these US strikes didn’t have the desired deterrent effect. 

US spy plane fights along the eastern Mediterranean, including stepped up drone activity, have increased in relation to Israel’s ongoing ground assault on Gaza.