Six SDF Kurds were killed in a drone strike that targeted a US base in eastern Syria where they are stationed, according to a non-governmental organization.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said their commando academy at the US Al Omar base in Deir Ezzor district was hit early Monday and accused Iran-backed militias of launching the drone from a nearby area controlled by Syrian government forces. forces.

There were no comments or reports of casualties from the US military, which has deployed around 800 troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS) group.

It was the second incident since the US carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria last weekend in response to a deadly drone strike on a base in Jordan.

The SDF – which has controlled much of northeastern Syria since defeating IS there in 2019, backed by a US-led global coalition – said in a statement that six of the “commando fighters” were killed in an attack with drone at their training academy around midnight on Monday.

“Iranian-backed militias used the Syrian regime-controlled areas in Deir al-Zour as a base for the terrorist attack,” it said.

Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman said it was “the first attack by pro-Iranian groups against US bases since the strikes” by Washington over the weekend.

In a statement posted on Telegram accounts affiliated with pro-Iranian armed groups, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack “carried out on Sunday, February 4, with the assistance of a drone against the base of the US occupation forces in the oil field of Al Omar in the heart of Syrian territory”.

The IRI has claimed responsibility for many of the drone, rocket and missile attacks that have targeted US troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He argues that this is a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The US struck 85 targets in seven different locations (4 in Syria and 3 in Iraq) targeting the Revolutionary Guards, an elite body of Iran’s armed forces, and pro-Iranian armed groups, according to Washington.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes in Syria killed 29 pro-Iran fighters. In Iraq, authorities said 16 people were killed.