BEIRUT — The US military said two rockets hit a base housing US troops in eastern Syria on Wednesday without causing any loss of life or material.
The morning attack on the Conoco Mission Support Facility comes as Iran and its allies in the region mark the three-year anniversary of the killing of the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force, General Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike in Baghdad.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in eastern Syria, where it is not uncommon for US military bases to be hit with rockets or mortars. Iran-backed militias stationed nearby as well as the Islamic State group’s dormant cells were defeated in Syria in March 2019.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war watchdog, said the missiles were fired by Arab tribes in the area armed by Iran.
Joe Buccino, a spokesman for US Central Command, said: “Attacks of this type put Coalition Forces and civilians at risk and undermine the country’s hard-earned security and stability. Syria and the region”.
CENTCOM said members of the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces visited the missile launch site and found a third did not fire.
There are about 900 US troops in Syria, including in the north and further south and east.
