Two United States F-15s have conducted a strike against a weapons facility used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups in eastern Syria, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the Nov. 8 military operation “a self defense strike” at the direction of President Joe Biden.
Mr. Austin said the latest military action was in response to a “series of attacks“ on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates.
Since Oct. 17, U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria have been the victims of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks by militia groups backed by Iran’s Islamic republic based on Ja'fari Shia Islam. Mr. Austin has previously said that most of the personnel injured in the attacks have since returned to duty.
“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Mr. Austin said.
“The United States is fully prepared to take further measures to protect our people and our facilities; we urge against any escalation,” he added.
Mr. Austin also revealed that the United States will continue to conduct counter missions against ISIS.
F-15 Eagle flies during the New York Air Show at Orange County Airport, N.Y., on June 24, 2023. (Petr Svab/The Epoch Times)
In response to the attacks, U.S.-led coalition forces began live-fire exercises at bases in Iraq and Syria last month. They also started carrying out airstrikes against locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The latest strikes come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East following the Oct. 7 massacre by the Hamas terrorist group on Israel’s civilians.
The U.S. military previously carried out multiple airstrikes in Syria on March 23 against Iran-aligned groups blamed for a drone attack.
Reaper Drone Shot Down Near Yemen
A U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was also shot down in international airspace near Yemen on Nov. 8, according to a Department of Defense (DOD) official.
According to the U.S. Air Force, Reaper drones are used primarily for collecting intelligence but are capable of military strikes against targets.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, the DOD official confirmed that Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi forces had shot down a Reaper drone.
The Houthis are a Zaydi Shiite movement that has been fighting Yemen’s internationally-recognized government since 2004. The Houthis took over the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, triggering a brutal civil war and humanitarian crisis in the country.
An MQ-9 Reaper drone flies by during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, on Nov. 17, 2015. (Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the Houthis in Yemen claimed in a Nov. 8 X post, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that its air defenses had brought down the drone.
According to the Houthis spokesperson, the drone, which the United States says was in international airspace, was carrying out “hostile, monitoring, and spying operations” and was shot down by an “appropriate weapon.”
“Hostile acts won’t deter the Yemeni armed forces from continuing to conduct military operations against the Israeli entity in solidarity to the oppression of the Palestinian nation,” the spokesperson said.
This isn’t the first time the Houthis have shot down a Reaper. In 2019, another drone met a similar fate after being struck by a surface to air missile. At the time, U.S. Central Command said they believed the Houthis action against U.S. surveillance attempts following a suspected IRGC attack on the ship M/T Kokuka Courageous was “enabled by Iranian assistance.”
