By Al-Fassel | 2023-10-24

The United States on Monday (October 23) accused Iran of "actively facilitating" attacks on US forces in the Middle East amid an uptick in attacks by Iranian proxies over the last week.

In the most recent incident, the US military on Monday said it had destroyed two attack drones before they reached their intended targets in southern Syria.

"There was an attempted drone attack at al-Tanf in Syria. Two one-way attack drones taken down; no injuries to US forces," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, adding that the drones were downed using "defensive systems."

Al-Tanf garrison, in the tri-border area of southern Syria, houses US troops operating as part of the international coalition against the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).

The garrison has been a regular target of Iran-backed militias.

In recent days, at least five rocket and drone attacks also have targeted three Iraqi military bases where US troops are stationed as part of the coalition.

A group calling itself the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" has said it launched drones at al-Tanf and al-Malikiyah in Syria and targeted US troops in Iraq.

A US Navy ship in the Red Sea on October 19 shot down three land-attack missiles and several drones that had been fired northwards along the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the Pentagon said.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday noted the rising number of rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed proxies against military bases housing US personnel in Iraq and Syria.

"We know these groups are supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and their regime," he said at a White House briefing.

"We know Iran continues to support Hamas and Hizbullah. And we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and, in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran," he said.

"We know Iran's goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we're not going to allow them to do that," he added. "We also are not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged."

Iran's support for proxy groups carrying out attacks "is no secret," Kirby added, pointing to the Islamic Republic's provision of funding, rockets and munitions and training to these armed groups. "It's pretty open."

"There is a connection between these groups and the IRGC — a very direct connection," he said, while noting that as yet he has seen no direct piece of intelligence that links Iran to the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7.

Potential for 'significant escalation'

A senior US defense official on Monday said there was potential for a "much more significant escalation against US forces and personnel in the near term."

The official characterized the recent spike in attacks against US forces in the Middle East as "efforts by Iran and Iran proxy forces to seek to escalate this conflict."

Hizbullah and Hamas have long been part of a "joint operations room" that includes the IRGC Quds Force, a source close to Hizbullah has told AFP.

The groups are part of the so-called "axis of resistance" -- Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and other Iran-backed armed opposition to Israel.

Tehran provides Hizbullah with financial and military support, while neighboring Syria -- where the group has been fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad -- facilitates the transfer of weapons.

In addition to its support for Hamas and Hizbullah, the Iranian regime funds and arms paramilitary groups in Iraq and Yemen's Houthis.

Kirby stressed that US President Joe Biden has made it clear that he does not want to see the Israel-Hamas conflict widen.

"We have added additional military capability into the region to deter any such action," he said. "And we will act appropriately to protect and defend our national security interests in the region."

"As President Biden has said, our message to any hostile actor seeking to escalate or widen this conflict is very simple: Don't do it."