US soldiers practice mortar fire at al-Tanf base in Syria April 2020
Soldiers deployed to At-Tanf Garrison, Syria, fire an 81 mm mortar weapon system during a readiness exercise on April 22, 2020. Coalition forces and our partner the Maghaweir al-Thowra remain united and determined in our mission to degrade and defeat Daesh in southern Syria. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. William Howard)

The US military announced that the al-Tanf base in southern Syria was attacked by a suicide drone, wounding two people, but did not name the responsible party.

Three suicide drones (UAVs) ambushed al-Tanf base in Syria,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on January 20. The agency said the US-led coalition shot down two drones, but the third hit the complex, injuring “two members of allied Syrian forces.”

“Raids of this kind are unacceptable,” said CENTCOM spokesman Joe Buccino, without specifying who was responsible. “They jeopardized the US military and our partners and undermined the fight against the Islamic State (IS).”

Neither side has claimed responsibility for attacking US bases in Syria with suicide drones. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the UK, said the Iranian-backed militia group could organize the raid on the al-Tanf base mentioned above.

Pro- Iranian militia groups have deployed forces near al-Tanf, a US base located on the Baghdad-Damascus highway near the Syria-Iraq-Jordan border junction. This route is considered to be of strategic importance in the region.

The US formed a coalition with a core of Syrian militiamen in 2016 to train them to fight IS. The US continued to maintain the al-Tanf base even though the Kurdish forces in March 2019 drove IS out of the last outpost.

Syria and Russia accuse the US of illegally deploying the al-Tanf base. At the same time, the Pentagon claims that US troops will only leave when IS is completely eliminated and its allied forces in Syria are protected.