U.S. troops suffer minor injuries from drone attack in Syria, Pentagon says

A number of U.S. service members suffered minor injuries from a one-way drone attack in Syria Friday, and a few have been transported for further evaluation, the Pentagon said Monday. 

“Several U.S. and coalition personnel were treated for minor injuries, including smoke inhalation. Others are being examined for traumatic brain injuries out of an abundance of caution,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Monday. 

The Pentagon did not say how many personnel were injured or transported when asked. 

The drone targeted Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria, which hosts U.S. and partner forces that are in the global coalition to defeat ISIS. U.S. Central Command is still evaluating the damage, but initial assessments show there was minor damage to one set of facilities, Ryder said Monday. 

The attack was the second within a week to injure U.S. personnel who are part of the coalition to defeat ISIS. 

A few days earlier, a rocket attack on al-Asad air base in Iraq injured four U.S. service members and one U.S. contractor. According to a defense official, three of the five were evacuated to a hospital in Germany with non-life-threatening injuries for further evaluation. 

The Pentagon has not identified the perpetrators of the two attacks, but in the past, attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been carried out by Iran-backed militia groups. The number of attacks ramped up after Oct. 7, when the war between Israel and Hamas broke out. 

Since October, U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, as well as Jordan have been attacked over 180 times, according to the Pentagon, but there has been a relative lull since February until recent weeks. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin while traveling earlier this month said, “I don’t see a return to where we were several months ago — not yet. And certainly, we’ll keep our eye on this. The safety and protection of our troops is really, really important to me.”

There are roughly 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq.