US forces conduct strike in eastern Syria : Pentagon says
AP , Wednesday 4 Dec 2024
U.S. forces conducted what it called a self-defence strike in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops.
File photo: American soldiers during an exercise in the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria. AP
The self-defence strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said.
The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area.
Ryder said the attack was not connected to the offensive that is ongoing in Aleppo, where Syrian insurgents have taken over the country’s largest city. The U.S. has about 900 troops in Syria to conduct missions to counter the Islamic State group.
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