US Base in Syria Comes Under Attack After Months of Relative Calm

A drone aiming for a US military base in Syria's Al-Tanf was intercepted and destroyed on Saturday, months after Iran-backed militants suspended such attacks following the deaths of three US troopers in an attack on a nearby base.

The Al-Tanf base, located within a 55-kilometer exclusion zone at the convergence of the Syrian, Jordanian, and Iraqi borders, engaged its air defenses after the drone ventured in from the east, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday.

The incident occurred less than 24 hours after airstrikes that hit an Iranian-backed militia in the Al Bukamal area near the Syrian-Iraqi border, reportedly killing one and injuring two militants.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the drone attack on the US base, such assaults are typically claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Tehran-backed militants.

The ongoing strikes underscore the escalating tension between US forces and Iranian-supported groups in the region.

The groups have been criticized for their recklessness, which led to a regional flare-up in January when a drone strike by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq killed three US troops in a US base in Jordan, close to the one in Al-Tanf.

The breach of several regional and US red lines prompted a response involving a series of US airstrikes across Iraq and Syria.

The risk of escalation became so serious that the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force made a trip to Baghdad to instruct the factions to reduce their attacks, according to Iranian and Iraqi sources who spoke to Reuters.

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