A day after a second U.S. airstrike against more targets in Syria to deter Iran proxy groups, the Pentagon revealed Thursday that bases with American troops suffered a fresh round of attacks, a handful of injuries and the loss of a drone.
Two U.S. F-15s made what the Pentagon described as a precision self-defense strike on a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria to send a message to groups aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force that have been attacking troops for weeks with drones and rockets.
A senior defense official, who spoke to reporters late Wednesday night, said that they are combining the most recent strike with “very clear messaging through multiple channels and the message is to Iranian senior leaders: We want you to direct your proxies in militia groups to stop attacking us.”
Read Next: Commandant Issues Marine Corps Birthday Message as Service Says He Is on ‘Path to Full Recovery’ After Cardiac Arrest
But it seemed unclear whether the Iran-aligned groups in Syria and Iraq had been deterred. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Thursday there had been four additional attacks on U.S. forces in the 24 hours since the latest airstrikes, which were the second U.S. airstrikes in Syria within the past two weeks.
Three service members suffered injuries in the newest attacks: Two received traumatic brain injuries and one was a “non-serious, non-critical injury,” Singh said. All had since…
