Iran Struck Its Former Ally

• 17.07.2026, 14:57

Tehran has attacked Syria for the first time since the war began.

On Friday, July 17, Iran launched an attack on Syrian territory—the first such attack since the war in the Middle East began in February 2026.

This was reported by Reuters citing a Syrian military source and Iranian state media.

According to Iranian media reports, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck a U.S. special operations command center in Al-Tanf in eastern Syria—allegedly in response to the deaths of Iranian military personnel as a result of a U.S. strike on the city of Iranshahr.

Reuters notes that it has been unable to independently verify this information. According to the agency’s Syrian source, Iran did indeed attack an area near the Al-Tanf base, but the strike did not affect the base itself. No casualties or damage were reported as a result of the attack.

As a reminder, in February 2026, the U.S. began withdrawing troops from its largest base, Kasrak, in northeastern Syria. At that time, the U.S. military announced the completion of the withdrawal of forces from the Al-Tanf base, located at the tri-border area of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq.

As Reuters notes, Damascus is striving to prevent the country from being drawn into the regional conflict engulfing Syria’s neighbors—in particular, Lebanon, where Israel is engaged in hostilities against the Hezbollah group, and Iraq, from where pro-Iranian forces are launching missile and drone strikes.

In March, Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa stated that the country would stay out of any conflict—unless it itself became the target of an attack.