সহকারী অধ্যাপক
২৬ মার্চ, ২০২৩ ০২:৫২ অপরাহ্ণ
Tehran condemns US strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria
Tehran
condemns US strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria
Tehran has condemned US airstrikes on Iran-linked forces in Syria that
reportedly killed 19 people, which Washington said it carried out following a
deadly drone attack on US forces.
The Iranian foreign ministry late Saturday
condemned "the belligerent and terrorist attack of the American army on
civilian targets" in the eastern Syrian region of Deir Ezzor.
Washington said it launched the retaliatory raids
after a US contractor was killed -- and another contractor and five military
personnel wounded -- by a drone "of Iranian origin" that struck a
US-led coalition base in Syria on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war
monitor has said at least 19 people, most of them Syrian, were killed in the
following US strikes launched early Friday morning.
The US strikes triggered further rocket attacks by
Iran-backed militias, the Observatory said.
The Syrian government, which is closely allied
with Iran, has accused the United States of lying about the targets of its air
strikes to justify its "act of aggression."
The United States has about 900 troops in posts
across northeastern Syria to keep pressure on the remnants of the Islamic State
group and support the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which control most
of the northeast.
US personnel in Syria have frequently been
targeted in attacks by militia groups that Washington says are backed by Tehran.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani
said the US troops' presence was "illegal" and a "violation of
international law and the national sovereignty" of Syria.
In contrast, Kanani said Iranian forces were in
Syria at the behest of Damascus.
"The military advisers of the Islamic
Republic of Iran are present in Syria at the request of the Syrian
government", he said, adding that they will continue to support Damascus
to "help establish peace, stability and lasting securi