(ANSA) - BEIRUT, MARCH 25 - The death toll from US attacks against Iran-linked groups in Syria has risen to 19 following a deadly drone attack attributed to Tehran.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights made it known, while Washington reiterated that it was not seeking a conflict with Iran.
Washington carried out the first strikes after the Pentagon said a US contractor was killed, and another was injured along with 5 servicemen, by an drone "of Iranian origin" that struck a US-led coalition base near Hasakeh on Thursday in northeastern Syria.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had ordered "precision airstrikes... into eastern Syria counter-structures used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps" at the direction of President Joe Biden.
Today, the British-based Observatory, which has an extensive network of sources on the ground, said 19 people were killed in the first wave of US attacks on Friday: three Syrian regime soldiers and 16 members of Iranian-backed forces. , including 11 Syrian civilians.
Hours after those attacks, 10 rockets were fired at US and coalition forces at the GreenVillage base in northeastern Syria, US Central Command (Centcom) said.
There were no injuries or damage to facilities at the base, but a rocket hit a house about three miles away, causing minor injuries to two women and two children, Centcom added.
Iranian-backed militias later Friday targeted a base in the Conoco gas field, prompting retaliatory strikes by target coalition warplanes in and around the city of Deir Ezzor, which also contains several oil fields, "causing material damage".
(HANDLE).
