image Photo: Reuters

US forces in Syria targeted by rockets

The United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the attack in a short statement.

By Erin Viner

Unidentified forces fired a rocket at the Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeast Syria, where US and local partner forces are based, on Saturday.

The 107 mm rocket failed to impact anything inside, causing no injuries or damage.

Additional rockets were later located at a launch site,” said CENTCOM,  which oversees US troops stationed in the Middle East.

While the military declined to state who is believed to have been responsible for the latest violence, in recent months the US has blamed for attacks on American troops on Iran-backed proxy terror groups.

The Ayatollah regime  and its terrorist followers such as Hezbollah have established a foothold in Syria with the deployment of forces aimed at attacking Israel while assisting President Bashar al-Assad battle insurgents in the Syrian Civil War that broke out in 2011.

The Saturday attack also came just two days after successful American strikes on terrorist forces.

Islamic State (ISIS) leader Wahid al-Shammri, involved in the smuggling of weapons and fighters, was targeted and killed during a rare American helicopter raid on a village held by Assad’s regime forces in the northeast last Thursday. Another ISIS terrorist was wounded and two others were detained by US troops.

“No US forces were injured or killed during the operation, no civilians were killed or wounded, and there was no loss or damage to US equipment,” stated CENTCOM.

In a separate airstrike in northern Syria just hours later, the US confirmed that two more Islamic State members were killed, including a leader identified as Abu-Hashum al-Umawi.

As with the helicopter raid, CENTCOM said there were no US military casualties and that initial assessments indicated no loss of civilian life.

US forces first deployed into Syria during the administration of then-President Barack Obama in an alliance partnering with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as part of the campaign to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group. An estimated 900 US troops remain in Syria, the majority of whom are deployed in the eastern sector of the Arab Republic.

Both the United States and Israel are committed to preventing the Islamic Republic’s forces and militias from establishing a deeper presence Syria or Lebanon as bases from which they can attack the Jewish State.

Israeli political and defense leaders have repeatedly stated that Iran’s presence just over the northern frontier will not be tolerated, and have in the past acknowledged mounting hundreds of attacks on Iranian-linked targets in Syria.