Several more attacks on U.S. bases in Syria

The U.S. has confirmed at least two more attacks on airbases in Syria since Thursday night when an Iranian-made drone hit a U.S. base. The first strike killed an American contractor and wounded at least five U.S.

service members. The U.S. responded by attacking a facility used by Iranian-backed militants in Syria. David Martin has new reporting from the Pentagon. The aftermath of a strike by American jets against what U.S.

officials called the headquarters of the Iranian-backed Islamic Revolutionary Guards in eastern Syria. The pilots observed a secondary explosion, a sign they also hid an ammo dump. We prepared for us to act forcefully, protect our people. That's exactly what happened last night. President Biden ordered the strike Thursday as he flew to Canada aboard Air Force One after a drone hit an American base in northeastern Syria. At the time, the air defense system surrounding the base was not in full operation. And military officials are now investigating whether that is why the drone got through.

We are very confident that based on the forensics, based on the intelligence analysis that we've done, that it was of Iranian origin. There are still about 900 American troops in Syria working with local fighters to go after remnants of the ISIS terror network. That has exposed them to attacks by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards. They're clearly trying to run us out of Syria at the very least. The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East tallied up the attack since the start of the Biden administration.

There has been a number since 1 January 2021. The number is about 78 times that we have been attacked. Iranian drones are also being used by Russia against Ukraine, one of several potential flashpoints between the U.S. and Iran. U.S.

officials say Iran is only months away from being able to field a nuclear weapon. But Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley testified this week the U.S. has plans to prevent that. And we, the United States military, have developed multiple options for our national leadership to consider if or when Iran ever decides to develop an actual nuclear weapon. It's not clear whether the government of Iran directly orders these attacks on American bases or just encourages them. Either way, U.

S. officials say Iran is responsible. Catherine? David, how deep is the concern at the Pentagon that this could lead to a further escalation? Well, it already is leading to further escalation. There have been three more attacks on American bases in Syria since that U.S. airstrike last night. And in one of those attacks, a U.

S. service member was wounded. So it is now up to the Biden administration to decide whether that is cause for another retaliatory strike. And of course, once that starts to happen, you always get into the debate over whether the retaliatory strike should be against the group that actually carried out that attack, that actually launched the drone in Syria, or should it be against Iran directly, which is the informing mind behind all of these attacks and is assigning these groups to go after American troops. Well that's really an intelligence question, as you know, right, trying to discern where the sort of the command and control is in this operation. Is, you've been reporting in this area, David, for decades, is there something about this situation that is, that's jumping out to you? Well, for the last year, there have been lots of attacks on these bases. But they've been very inaccurate.

And now we've had this one accurate attack, which killed the one American contractor and wounded the five others. And now we have this subsequent attacks in which another service member was wounded. That hasn't happened before, that I can remember, since the battle against ISIS in Syria ended back during the Trump administration. During the Biden administration, the casualties have been relatively light, and the Biden response has been very light too. Just a tit for tat, every time an American service member or an American citizen is killed or wounded. But now we've got them two days back to back. That's different.

Yep. David Martin at the Pentagon, thank you for your reporting. Sure thing.

Iranian-backed militias, iranian-made drone, u.s. military, American casualty, service members, syria