US officially blames Israel for deadly attack on top Iranian generals in Damascus

Enlarge image

Sabrina Singh

Photo: Andrew Harnik / dpa

Clear demarcation: According to the US government, Israel is responsible for the attack on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus. Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh made this clear at a press conference on Tuesday in Washington.

Singh was asked whether the US was involved in Monday's airstrike. To which she replied: “The US did not carry out an attack in Damascus. I would like to refer you to the Israelis to talk to them about their attack." When asked whether it was the US government's official assessment that Israel was responsible for the strike, the spokeswoman answered in the affirmative: "That is our assessment. «

On Monday, two brigadier generals and five other members of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard were killed in an air strike on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus. Iran strongly condemned the attack and threatened its arch-enemy Israel with retaliation.

An Israeli military spokesman said when asked that they do not comment on reports in foreign media.

Singh said the US made it very clear to Iran through confidential channels after the incident that it was not involved in the strike. Israel did not inform the US government in advance about the attack or its target.

Sigh also commented on another incident in Syria. She contradicted reports that American soldiers in southeast Syria were targeted by pro-Iranian militias. The deputy Pentagon spokeswoman said in an incident at the Al-Tanf military base near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders that a drone was shot down from the base that was flying in the area. "But we do not believe that the base or us or coalition forces were the intended target." The US government does not classify the incident as an attack on US forces. According to Singh, American soldiers in the region were last targeted by an attack on February 4th.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had previously reported that the Al-Tanf base was attacked by a drone on Tuesday night and US troops shot it down.

The pro-Iranian group “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” also claimed responsibility for the action and stated that it had attacked the military base with drones. The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” is a kind of umbrella group for pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, which have been operating together under this general name since the terrorist acts of the Islamist Hamas on October 7th in Israel.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war almost six months ago, pro-Iranian militias have carried out repeated attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria for weeks. On January 28, one of the attacks in Jordan, near the Syrian border, ultimately killed three US soldiers. The USA responded to the escalation with extensive air strikes against positions of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria. According to the US government, the retaliatory strikes were effective: According to the Pentagon, there have been no attacks on US bases in the region since the beginning of February.

dop/dpa