US forces successfully intercepted a unilateral attack drone that approached a US-led Global Coalition base on the outskirts of Hasakah (Hesekê) governorate in northeast Syria on Sunday.
A Coalition military source told the North Press Agency that the drone had come from an area controlled by Turkish-backed armed opposition groups, commonly known as the Syrian National Army (SNA).
However, other sources claim the downed drone belonged to the Iraqi Sunni Islamist armed group the Islamic Resistance Front.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported that the drone downed near the US base at Tell Baydar, north of Hasakah city, belonged to Turkey. SOHR later retracted its report that the drone was Turkish.
The Islamic Front for Iraqi Resistance, which has previously carried out drone attacks on US bases in the region, said it had carried out an attack on the Global Coalition base in Hasakah. “Our mujahideen targeted the American occupation base in Tell Baydar in Hasakah with drones and hit it directly,” the group said in a statement as reported byBirgün.
The SOHR released photographs of the base in the aftermath of the downing of the drone.
The US forces have yet to make an official statement.
The increase in hostile incidents targeting US forces and personnel in Syria and Iraq coincides with Israel’s retaliatory aggression in Gaza following a Hamas attack in southern Israel on 7 October.
