The USA is reportedly investigating the reason why its air defense system was not fully operational during an Iranian drone strike on a US military base in Syria.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier in the day that the US military had carried out counter airstrikes on facilities belonging to groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) after an Iranian drone attacked a coalition base in northeast Syria.
The US military does not know at present why the system did not work as it should and the circumstances are under investigation, the report said, citing two other officials.
One of the officials explained that the Avenger missile defense system on the base, named RLZ, may have been experiencing some unexpected maintenance issue.
This all despite the fact that the troops were on high alert given that Iranian-backed groups had conducted 78 attacks in the past two years, US media reported.
Two soldiers injured during the attack were treated on site, while three others were evacuated to the medical facility in nearby Iraq along with a wounded contractor, a release issued by the Pentagon detailed.
The US Defense Department did not reveal the identity of the killed person, pending notification of family first.
US officials said that Iran-backed militias fired about a dozen of rockets while attacking another US military base in the area, but that strike did not result in casualties.
The US military controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo and Deir Ez-Zor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.
The Syrian government has repeatedly called the US military presence in the provinces an occupation aimed at stealing Syria’s oil.
Sputnik / ABC Flash-Point News 2023.
Oil company ConocoPhillpis from the USA is stealing Syria’s oil. The Iranian attack was justified .The Iranians are not the bad guys here.