Drone warfare

Day 710 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

The United States initiated airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in response to a drone strike in Jordan that claimed the lives of three American soldiers. ABC and Fox News reported the targeted strikes, hitting over 85 locations, including command posts, intelligence centers, ammunition depots, and logistics facilities, using more than 125 precision-guided munitions.

The U.S. military launched retaliatory air strikes against Iranian forces and Tehran-backed militia groups in both Iraq and Syria on Friday, following a recent drone attack that killed three American soldiers at a remote base in Jordan.

Ukraine's spy chief on Thursday said Kiev's forces were planning to step up their attacks on Russian infrastructure sites, following a spate of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities this year.

"The number of attacks on Russian infrastructure is likely to increase," Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine's GUR military intelligence unit, said in a social media post.

In the attack, three American soldiers were killed and at least 34 wounded, accusing "radical militant groups supported by Iran" of the drone attack.
"Have no doubt - we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing," Biden said in a statement.

Overnight, a drone attack on a small US outpost in Jordan resulted in the loss of three US Army soldiers' lives, leaving at least two dozen service members injured, as reported by CNN. This marks the first instance of US troops being killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the onset of the Gaza war.

Iran denied U.S. and British accusations that it supported militant groups behind a drone strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. military personnel, Tehran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

"These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities of the region," IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying.

The Turkish security forces "neutralized" 14 PKK/YPG terrorists in the Operation Euphrates Shield area in Syria's north, the Defense Ministry has announced.

The ministry statement on Jan. 22 noted that the operation targeted the members of the terror organizations who opened harassing fire on Turkish security forces. 

The Defense Ministry has announced on consecutive days that a total of 11 PKK members were neutralized in preemptive strikes targeting potential attacks within Türkiye's operational zones in northern Syria.

Following Russia's missile and drone strike, Ukraine swiftly responded with a substantial counterattack using numerous drones, marking this retaliation as one of the most expansive since the conflict's inception.

The center of Belgorod right after the strike pic.twitter.com/NCPlMaJVj8

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) December 30, 2023