The assault comes as violence in Syria intensifies, with opposition fighters advancing in opposition to authorities positions.
Washington, DC – The Pentagon has confirmed that america carried out a strike in opposition to army belongings in japanese Syria after a rocket assault close to considered one of its bases.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder informed reporters on Tuesday that the US army struck weapons programs — together with rocket launchers and a tank — that “offered a transparent and imminent risk” to its forces within the space.
The US strike comes as violence escalates throughout the war-torn nation. Over the past week, armed opposition teams carried out a blistering offensive in northwest Syria in opposition to the federal government forces led by President Bashar al-Assad, ushering in a brand new stage of the nation’s long-running civil conflict.
The offensive has raised questions on how the US may reply and whether or not it may develop into entangled within the battle, given its important army presence in Syria.
Ryder mentioned on Tuesday that the assault was in response to a rocket launch that fell “within the neighborhood” of Navy Help Web site (MSS) Euphrates, a US base in japanese Syria.
He added that it’s not clear who was working the weapons, however Iran-backed teams and Syrian authorities forces are identified to be within the space.
The Pentagon spokesperson burdened that the motion is “not linked to any broader actions in northwest Syria by different teams”.
However on Tuesday, Damascus accused the US of offering air help for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which pushed to advance in opposition to government-controlled villages east of the Euphrates River, close to town of Deir ez-Zor.
The SDF has acquired US help for years underneath the acknowledged intention of combating ISIL (ISIS).
Syrian state-run Alikhbaria TV reported on Tuesday that clashes had been happening between SDF and authorities forces close to the village of Tabiyet Jazira “with the intervention of US occupation jets which are focusing on the frontlines within the space”.
The SDF had claimed earlier within the day that it took management of seven villages east of the Euphrates as a result of “severe risk associated to the upcoming motion of huge ISIS terrorist cells”.
“The deployment of our forces to those villages is in response to the pressing pleas and appeals of the native populace, following the rising potential dangers that ISIS will exploit the occasions within the west of the nation,” the SDF’s Deir ez-Zor Navy Council mentioned in a press release.
However the Syrian authorities mentioned the villages stay underneath its management.
Farther west, authorities troops have been battling rebels making an attempt to advance in direction of the central metropolis of Hama because the entrance traces of the conflict, which had gone principally dormant over the previous 4 years, see main shifts.
Insurgent teams, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which had been confined to the northwestern Idlib province, launched their offensive final week, taking management of Aleppo and heading south in direction of Hama.
The nation had skilled relative calm since 2020 with the federal government, insurgent teams and SDF largely remaining inside their unofficial territories.
However the opposition seems to have struck at an opportune second when President al-Assad’s fundamental army backers — Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — are specializing in their personal conflicts elsewhere.
The US, which calls Assad a “brutal dictator”, has denied any involvement within the rebels’ offensive, highlighting that Washington considers HTS to be a “terrorist” group.
HTS is a reiteration of al-Nusra Entrance, which operated as al-Qaeda’s department in Syria early within the conflict.
Based on the Pentagon, Washington has 900 troops in Syria and a deep alliance with the SDF, one of many main events to the battle.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon’s Ryder declined to reply questions concerning the SDF’s operations within the Deir ez-Zor space.
“Our focus has been on working with the SDF because it pertains to countering ISIS, and that continues to be our focus,” he mentioned.
