Syria Kurds Say Thwarted Drone Attacks Near Coalition Base
Syrian Kurdish forces said they repelled drone attacks Wednesday near a major base of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State group remnants, in the second such attack in days.
“Our frontline forces against IS and coalition forces in the area of the Omar oil field dealt with drone attacks,” the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said. They said initial reports indicated the attacks had caused no damage.
It was the second such attempted attack in days after the SDF reported “two unidentified rocket-propelled grenades landed on the western side of the al-Omar oil field” late Sunday, without causing casualties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria, said pro-Iran militias had probably launched the drones from a rural area outside the town of Al-Mayadeen southwest of the oil field.
The failed drone attacks came as a coalition spokesman said 14 rockets were fired at the Ain al-Assad airbase which hosts American troops in neighboring Iraq.
Pro-Iran militias also fired several shells at Al-Omar on Monday last week, causing damage but no casualties, the Observatory said.
The shelling came after the US launched airstrikes the previous night against three targets it said were used by pro-Iran groups in eastern Syria and western Iraq.
Iran and Russia have been key backers of the Damascus regime in Syria’s decade-old conflict.