At least 6 Kurdish fighters killed in drone attack on Syrian base housing U.S. troops
LA TimesThis photo issued by the British Ministry of Defence on Sunday shows a RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returning to base, following strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. A drone attack on a base housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday, in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the U.S. launched retaliatory strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region. The U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. Meanwhile, Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least seven Syrian Democratic Forces fighters were killed in the attack on Sunday and at least 18 others wounded, some in critical condition. In a statement early Monday, the U.S. Central Command said the strikes were in self-defense and came after forces determined the missiles “presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.” Sunday’s strikes came a day after the U.S. and Britain launched a second wave of strikes against the Houthis, meant to degrade the Iranian-backed group’s capabilities to attack vessels in the Red Sea.