Several explosions were heard on Wednesday, October 20, coming from the al-Tanf base, near the Syrian borders with Jordan and Iraq, a base used by the coalition led by the United States in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) organization. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based NGO with a large network of sources in Syria, a drone attack is responsible for these explosions.
An American official confirmed to Agence France-Presse that an attack had targeted the base. “We do not know of any victims”the official said on condition of anonymity.
Fourteen dead in an attack on a military bus in Damascus
The base of al-Tanf, a desert garrison in southern Syria, was set up in 2016 as part of the fight against ISIS. Damascus and its allies have repeatedly declared that American troops had no reason to be there. Iranian-backed forces are located not far from this strategically important base, located on the Baghdad-Damascus road.
Earlier today, a Syrian military bus was the target of a bomb attack in Damascus. At least fourteen soldiers were killed and three others wounded. The attack, the deadliest in the Syrian capital in four years, has not been claimed. It was followed by regime bombardments on rebel areas in the north-west of the country. Thirteen people, mostly civilians, were killed.