US base in Syria attacked after months of relative calm

A drone aimed at a U.S. military base in Al-Tanf, Syria, was intercepted and destroyed on Saturday, months after Iran-backed militants halted such attacks following an attack on a nearby base that killed three U.S. soldiers.

The Al-Tanf base, located in a 55-kilometer-wide exclusion zone at the junction of Syria, Jordan and Iraq, activated its air defenses after the drone entered from the east, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday.

The incident occurred less than 24 hours after Air strikes that hit an Iranian-backed militia in the Al Bukamal area near the Syrian-Iraqi border. One militant was reportedly killed and two injured.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the drone attack on the US base, such attacks are usually claimed by the Islamic Resistance Movement in Iraq, a coalition of militants backed by Tehran.

The ongoing attacks underscore escalating tensions between U.S. forces and Iran-backed groups in the region.

The groups were criticized for their recklessness, which led to a regional uproar in January when a drone strike by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq killed three US soldiers at a US base in Jordan, near the base in Al-Tanf.

The breach of several regional and US red lines triggered a series of US air strikes in Iraq and Syria in response.

The danger of escalation has become so great that the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force has traveled to Baghdad to order the factions to limit their attacks, Iranian and Iraqi sources told Reuters.

Following the intervention, there was a temporary halt in attacks on US forces. However, after a brief period of calm, the focus of the attacks shifted to Israel.