SULAIMANI (ESTA) — U.S. military confirmed on Wednesday in a statement that it targeted a militia site affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria’s key province meanwhile Iran denied possessing any link to the targeted site.
Early Wednesday the U.S. military said it carried out air strikes on Tuesday in Syria’s Dier Ez-zor province, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields in the east of Syria, the strikes targeted facilities used by militias affiliated with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“The strikes were aimed at protecting U.S. forces from attack by Iran-backed groups,” the statement by the military’s Central Command said, mentioning no details on whether the strike caused casualties or not.
However, a war monitor reported that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed amid the airstrikes.
“The airstrikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatimiyoun group made up of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan” Opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Central Command called the strikes a “proportionate, deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties.”
While in Iran, Foreign Ministry denied having any link to the site targeted by the U.S. military in Syria, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday.
Kanaani also condemned the American strike “against the people and infrastructure of Syria.” according to the ministry’s telegram channel.
This is not the first time U.S. warplanes have targeted Iran-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. The United States hit operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq in June last year, according to Reuters.
U.S. forces first deployed into Syria during Obama’s administration’s campaign against Islamic State, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 U.S. troops in Syria, most of them in the east.
Iran-backed militias established a foothold in Syria while fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad since Syria’s civil war in 2011.
