File image.
On February 15, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had shot down an Iranian-manufactured drone near one of its bases in the eastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor.
“On February 14th, at approximately 2:30 PM local time, U.S. forces in Syria engaged and shot down an Iranian-manufactured UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attempting to conduct reconnaissance of Mission Support Site Conoco, a patrol base in northeast Syria,” the command said on Twitter.
Mission Support Site Conoco is a gas plant located on the eastern bank of Euphrates Rivers in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. Several armed factions backed by Iran are deployed alongside Syrian government forces in several nearby towns.
CENTCOM released two photos documenting the moment the drone was shot down. An anti-aircraft missile was apparently used.
The drone was identified as an Iranian-manufactured Yazdan. The hand-launched small drone is mainly used for frontline reconnaissance.
Click to see full-size image. (U.S. Army photo)
Click to see full-size image. (U.S. Army photo)
This was not the first such incident. In August 2021, an Iranian drone was reportedly shot down by a F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet of the U.S. Air Force over the Green Village base, which is located within al-Omar oil fields in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside.
Last January, a U.S. garrison in the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf was attacked with three suicide drones. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq – al-Warithin Formation, a shadowy armed faction that is thought to be affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded several Syrian militants from a U.S. proxy group.
The U.S. didn’t respond to the drone attack on al-Tanf. However, its 900 troops in Syria have been very cautious ever since. The threat of a new limited confrontation in Syria between U.S. forces and Iranian-affiliated factions remains high.
