The Iranian-made drone that killed a US contractor and wounded five US service members never fired a missile at the US facility where the attack occurred and crashed into the facility, the Pentagon said Friday.
The drone was “of Iranian origin,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Friday, citing intelligence and forensic analysis, as new information was still coming in about the attack on the facility and the American “precision strikes” that followed.
“To my knowledge, it did not fire a weapon,” he said, when asked if the drone was able to fire a weapon at the facility or had crashed.
Military analysts are still assessing how the drone was able to inflict the destruction it caused on the base. US radar providing information on incoming threats appears to have been in order.
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. General Patrick Ryder told reporters that an Iranian-made drone crashed into a US facility in Syria, killing a US contractor and injuring five US service members.
“It is my understanding that there was a complete picture of the sight in terms of radar,” Ryder said. She said the US Central Command would be conducting a review to “take a look at whether any other type of mitigation measures need to be taken.”
This is a dangerous part of the world. The work we do is inherently dangerous. That’s why you have the military and these kinds of places that mean these kinds of operations. We have seen rocket attacks or attacks in the past for these types of groups.
His comments follow a report in the New York Times that the base’s main air defense system was not “fully operational” at the time of the attack.
He repeatedly pointed to groups backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as responsible for the attack.
“The fact is that these IRGC-backed groups carried out this attack, and unfortunately, we had an American killed,” Ryder said.
Ryder did not answer directly when asked why there could not have been a contingency to shoot down the drone.
‘We take a variety of measures to safeguard our people. But then again, it’s an inherently dangerous place. And we’ll see the details of that,” Ryder said.
He also underscored what the White House said earlier on Friday, amid fears of an escalation against a major power in the region.
‘We don’t see conflict or war with Iran. Our focus in Syria is on the lasting defeat of ISIS,’ she said.
That came after the White House said Friday that the United States is not seeking conflict with Iran after President Joe Biden launched a retaliatory airstrike for a US contractor killed in Syria by a drone strike. Activists said the US bombardment killed at least four people.
A suspected Iranian-made suicide drone killed a contractor and wounded five US service members on Thursday at a maintenance facility on a coalition base near al-Hasakah in northeast Syria.
Biden responded by deploying ‘precision airstrikes’ against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing 11 pro-Iranian fighters. The Iranian-backed fighters responded by firing three rockets on Friday morning.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday morning: ‘We are not seeking war with Iran. We are not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region’
According to a US defense official, the US counterattacks were carried out by F-15 fighter jets flying from al-Udeid airbase in Qatar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the military operations.
US F-15s struck three locations, all in the vicinity of Deir el-Zour, a US official said.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby appeared on the US morning shows on Friday and was asked on CNN if the US might consider the recent attacks an “act of war.”
‘We are not looking for a war with Iran. We are not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region,’ Kirby said.
“We seek to protect our mission in Syria, which is about defeating ISIS, and we seek to protect our people at our facilities against these Iranian-backed groups,” Kirby added.
He was unable to provide details about the identity of the US contractor, other than confirming that he was a US citizen.
“We’re trying to give the family some time and space to grieve,” Kirby explained.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Kirby said it was clear that the Iran-backed group resented the US presence in the region.
“They don’t want to see the US presence in Iraq, they don’t want to see it in Syria and they are retaliating, they are acting to limit our ability to go after ISIS both in those countries and to try to force our hand to get it out.” Kirby said.
He also said that the three rocket attacks launched against the US base in the Al-Omar oil field did not cause any damage.
“It’s not uncommon when we take a retaliatory strike like this that they immediately respond with some ineffective rocket fire and these were largely, completely ineffective,” Kirby said. “No one was hurt, there were no American casualties at all.”
“It was kind of the knee-jerk reaction that we get from these militant groups whenever we do this kind of thing,” he continued. “But having said that, obviously we will be keeping an eye out for any further response from Iran or its militant groups in Syria, in Iraq.”
US Army General Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, head of US Army Central Command, warned that his forces could carry out additional strikes if necessary. “We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and we will always respond at the time and place we choose.”
President Joe Biden (pictured) ordered the retaliatory strike on an ammunition warehouse, a control building, and an intelligence-gathering site.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III said he authorized the retaliatory strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden.
US forces provide military training in Syria’s Al-Hasakah province in September 2022
