US Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban confirmed in a statement this morning that the US base in Al Tanf, in southeastern Syria, was subjected to “a deliberate and coordinated attack,” using both drones and rockets or mortars. ABC News had earlier cited Iraqi security sources saying that the attack originated from inside of Syria. ABC otherwise tried to pin the blame for the attack on the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah militia, which opposes the US military presence inside Iraq.
The Tanf base is located on the M2 highway near where the borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan meet. The M2 runs from the Iraqi border (in Iraq it comes from Baghdad) to the border with Lebanon by way of Damascus. “Israeli officials see the presence of US troops there as a key element in frustrating Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and Syria,” reports the Times of Israel. Both the Syrian government and Russia have denounced the US troop presence in Syria as an illegal occupation.
The attack on the US base followed by mere hours a terrorist attack in Damascus targeting a military bus. “At about 06:45 a.m. on Wednesday, while a military bus was passing near Jisr al-Rais in Damascus, the bus was targeted with two explosive devices that were previously attached to the bus, which led to the death of fourteen martyrs and the injury others,” a military source told SANA. The source added that the military engineering personnel “dismantled a third explosive device that had fallen off the bus after the explosion.” It was reported to be the worst terrorist attack in Damascus since 2018.
