U.S. forces on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, attacked and destroyed several weapons that fired rockets and mortars near Military Support Site Euphrates, a U.S.-led coalition base in eastern Syria. (Capt. Daniel Andrews/U.S. Army)
WASHINGTON — American forces on Tuesday morning attacked and destroyed several weapons including rocket launchers and a tank operating near a U.S.-led coalition base in eastern Syria, the Pentagon said.
The U.S. strikes took place near Military Support Site Euphrates and destroyed three truck-mounted rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that presented a threat to U.S. and coalition forces, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman.
“The self-defense strike occurred after multiple rocket launchers fired rockets that landed in the vicinity of MSS Euphrates and mortars were fired toward U.S. forces,” Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon. “We’re still assessing who is operating these weapons but do know that there are Iranian-backed militia groups in the area.”
Ryder told reporters Monday that there was a rocket attack against “one of our facilities in Syria,” though no U.S. personnel were injured and no infrastructure damage was reported. U.S. forces also conducted a self-defense strike near MSS Euphrates on Nov. 29, taking out a potential threat to the U.S. base, he added. No U.S. injuries or infrastructure damage were reported in that incident.
Last week, the 13-year civil war in Syria reignited with a surprise attack by rebel forces who seized the city of Aleppo.
It was the first opposition attack on Aleppo since 2016, when a Russian air campaign retook the northwestern city for Syrian President Bashar Assad after rebel forces had seized it, The Associated Press reported. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other groups has allowed Assad to remain in power in Syria with about 70% of the country under his control.
Rebel forces led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched the attack on Aleppo last week and moved into the countryside around Idlib. The Syrian military and its foreign allies have rushed reinforcements and launched airstrikes as they attempted to stall their momentum, according to the AP.
The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East at a time when U.S.-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups, the AP reported.
“Let me be clear that the U.S. is in no way involved in the operations you see playing out in and around Aleppo in northwestern Syria, which as you know are being led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a designated terrorist organization,” Ryder said.
American forces in Syria are part of a U.S.-led coalition in that country and Iraq working to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State. About 900 U.S. service members and an undisclosed number of contractors are operating in Syria, where they support local Kurdish forces. An additional 2,500 American troops are in Iraq.
U.S. bases in the region have been prone to attacks since the surprise attack in October 2023 by Hamas militants on Israel. The Pentagon last month said U.S. forces had been attacked 125 times in Syria and 79 times in Iraq since the Hamas attack.
