Two US-led coalition members injured in missile attack in east Syria

War monitor says five rockets were fired at the Green Village base from positions where Iran-backed fighters are based

Illustrative: American soldiers during an exercise in the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, December 8, 2021. .(AP/Baderkhan Ahmad)
Illustrative: American soldiers during an exercise in the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, December 8, 2021. .(AP/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Two members of a US-led coalition were injured Thursday in a missile strike targeting a US Air Force base in eastern Syria, the organization said.

The attack — two rounds of indirect fire — was the first to hit the base in Syria’s Deir el-Zour province since January, when eight rounds landed inside its perimeter.

The International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve said troops at Green Village in the province that borders Iraq reported receiving two rounds of indirect fire. Two Coalition members were lightly injured in the attack, it added, saying that both were treated and returned to duty Thursday morning.

Green Village, just east of the Euphrates River, is an installation used by some of the several hundred US forces in Syria.

The coalition said the incoming rounds ignited two fires that were quickly extinguished.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said five rockets were fired early Thursday from positions where Iran-backed fighters are based.

Illustrative: A soldier sits on top of a US military vehicle passing through the Syrian northeastern town of Qahtaniyah on the border with Turkey on October 31, 2019 (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Hundreds of US troops are stationed in northeastern Syria, working with the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to fight against the Islamic State group.

Thousands of Iran-backed militiamen from around the Middle East are deployed in different parts of Syria, many of them in areas along the border with Iraq.

Iran sent thousands of fighters it backs from around the Middle East to fight alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces during Syria’s 11-year conflict. They helped tip the balance of power in his favor.

While no group has yet to claim responsibility for the strike, Iranian proxies have targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria in the past.

Last month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed direct responsibility for a rocket attack in Iraqi Kurdistan on US targets.

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