JAKARTA - The White House says the United States will not back down from its nearly eight-year military mission in Syria, where it is fighting remnants of Islamic State, despite attacks on US troops there last week by Iran-backed militias.
A drone attacked a US base in Syria on March 23, killing a US contractor, wounding another contractor and five US soldiers.
That prompted retaliatory US airstrikes and an exchange of fire that a Syrian war monitoring group said killed three Syrian soldiers, 11 Syrian fighters in pro-government militias, and five non-Syrian fighters allied to the government.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he was not aware of any further attacks over the past 36 hours, but warned, "We will remain vigilant," Reuters reported, March 28.
Kirby also referred to President Joe Biden's remarks on Friday, in which he warned Iran, the United States would act decisively to protect American citizens.
"There has been no change in the US footprint in Syria as a result of what happened in the last few days," Kirby said, adding that the mission against ISIS would continue.
"We will not be deterred... by the attacks of these militant groups," he stressed.
Syria's Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the US strike, saying Washington lied about what it was targeting, promising to "end America's occupation" of its territory.
Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, accusing US forces of targeting "civilian sites".
It is known that US troops first deployed to Syria during President Obama's campaign against ISIS, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the east.
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Prior to the latest spate of attacks, US troops in Syria had been attacked by Iranian-backed groups some 78 times since the start of 2021, according to the US military.
Meanwhile, Iran has been the main backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian conflict that has lasted for 12 years.
Iranian proxy militias, including the Lebanese Hezbollah group and pro-Tehran Iraqi groups, control most of eastern, southern, and northern Syria, as well as the suburbs around the capital Damascus.
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