US military denies American troops in Syria were attacked

PTI, Jul 5, 2021, 9:56 AM IST

Beirut: A facility housing US troops in eastern Syria came under attack late Sunday when rockets were fired from nearby areas, an opposition war monitor, state media and a spokesman for US-backed fighters said, though the US military denied there was any attack.

”There is no truth to the reports that US forces in Syria were attacked by rockets today,” tweeted coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto.

Earlier Sunday, Siyamend Ali, a spokesman for the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said two rockets were fired at the al-Omar field in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour without inflicting any casualties.

He added that it was not immediately clear where the rockets were fired from.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets were fired from areas controlled by Iran-backed fighters in the area of Mayadeen, also in Deir el-Zour.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, also reported that the al-Omar facility was hit with two rockets.

Later Sunday, the Syrian Democratic Forces denied reports that another base housing US troops was hit, saying the sounds of explosions at the facility, known as Conoco, were from training with live ammunition.

The alleged rocket attack on al-Omar came six days after US troops in eastern Syria came under a similar attack.

Last week’s attack came a day after US Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.

Hundreds of US troops are stationed in northeastern Syria, working with the Syrian Democratic Forces to fight against the Islamic State group.

Thousands of Iran-backed militiamen from around the Middle East are deployed in different parts of Syria, many of them in areas along the border with Iraq.

Iran-backed fighters have joined President Bashar Assad’s forces in Syria’s 10-year conflict. Their presence helped tip the balance of power in Assad’s favour.