Iran targets eastern Syria in first attack of its kind since the war began

Iranian state media and a Syrian military source reported that Iran launched an attack on eastern Syria on Friday, marking the first known strike by Tehran on Syrian soil since the outbreak of conflict in the region earlier this year.

State media quoted the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as saying it attacked a US special operations command center in Tanf, Syria, in response to the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr. Reuters was unable to independently verify the report. A Syrian military source told Reuters that Iran launched an attack near Tanf, but that the base itself was not hit. The source added that there were no casualties or material damage.

The US military said in February that it had completed its withdrawal from the Tanf base, located on the Syrian border with Jordan and Iraq.

Syria has sought to avoid being drawn into the wider regional conflict, which has spread to countries including Lebanon, where Hezbollah is fighting Israeli forces, and Iraq, where Iran-backed armed groups have launched missile and drone attacks.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said during an event hosted by the Chatham House research center in London in March that his country would stay out of any conflict unless it came under attack. According to state media, the Revolutionary Guard affirmed that Iran retains full control of the Strait of Hormuz and that continued US attacks mean no oil or gas can be exported through the waterway.