ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: An Iranian security spokesperson warned on Saturday that strikes on Iranian-linked bases in Syria would draw a swift response.
The statement comes after 19 people were reportedly killed in US air strikes on pro-Tehran installations in the eastern part of Syria.
Keyvan Khosravi, the spokesperson for Iran’s top security body, said that “any pretext to attack bases created at the Syrian government’s request to deal with terrorism and Islamic State elements in this country will be met with an immediate counter-response,” Iranian state media reported.
Tehran says its forces and allied fighters are in Syria on the latter’s request, and considers US forces there as occupiers.
The US strikes in eastern Syria were in response to a drone attack on Thursday that killed one American contractor and injured another along with five US troops. Washington said the attack was of Iranian origin.
The air strikes killed three Syrian troops, 11 Syrian fighters in pro-government militias and five non-Syrian fighters who were aligned with the government, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The initial exchange prompted a series of tit-for-tat strikes. Another US service member was wounded, according to officials, and local sources said more locations in eastern Syria were hit by US rocket strikes.
President Joe Biden on Friday warned Iran that the US would “act forcefully” to protect Americans.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the latest strikes by the US, accusing the latter of targeting “civilian sites”.
“Iranian military advisers have been in Syria at the request of the Syrian government to help the country in fighting terrorism, and shall remain by Syria’s side to help in establishing peace, stability and lasting security,” ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told state media.
Iran’s presence in Syria
Iran has been a major supporter of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s 12-year conflict. Iran-backed militias, including pro-Tehran Iraqi groups and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, control swathes of eastern, southern and northern Syria and in suburbs around Damascus.
