https://sputnikglobe.com/20240810/explosions-rock-us-occupation-base-in-syria-as-pentagon-ramps-up-illegal-troop-deployments-1119710653.html
Explosions Rock US Occupation Base in Syria as Pentagon Ramps Up Illegal Troop Deployments
Explosions Rock US Occupation Base in Syria as Pentagon Ramps Up Illegal Troop Deployments
Sputnik International
The US operates about a dozen military bases in strategic energy and food-rich areas of northeastern Syria. Washington has used the occupation in combination with crushing sanctions as part of a strategy aimed at suffocating Damascus economically after failing to oust its internationally-recognized government in a CIA-backed dirty war.
2024-08-10T16:27+0000
2024-08-10T16:27+0000
2024-08-10T16:27+0000
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US occupation forces went on high alert early Saturday morning after a kamikaze drone attacked the Kharab al-Jir Air Base in Syria’s Hasakah province.Regional media citing local sources reported “multiple explosions” inside the base, with no information given on the extent of possible damage to the facility or possible casualties. No group or faction has claimed responsibility.Media reported earlier that a US military cargo aircraft had arrived at the base on Friday, carrying military and logistical equipment and about two dozen troops.An anonymous US defense official confirmed to US media that the base had been targeted. “Initial reports do not indicate any injuries, however medical evaluations are ongoing. We are currently conduction a damage assessment,” the official said.The escalating violence follows efforts by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces militia this week to enforce a blockade targeting the Syrian government-controlled eastern cities of al-Hasakah and Qamishli, including by blocking deliveries of food and fuel, after accusing them of facilitating an attack in Deir ez-Zor region on Wednesday by local nomadic Arab tribesmen restless over the SDF’s ongoing occupation. Syrian media reported Friday that nine members of one family were injured, three of them gravely, in a shelling attack in Deir ez-Zor by SDF fighters targeting their home.A Syrian military source told Sputnik last week that the US occupation forces have ramped up their presence in Hasakah province with 15 Apache helicopter gunships amid escalating regional violence.The US illegally maintains at least 900 troops in Syria, and 2,500 more in neighboring Iraq. An Iraqi militia leader recently vowed to draw up a “timetable” for the US’s expulsion from the country. On Monday, five US personnel and two contractors were injured in a rocket attack at the Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq. The Pentagon blamed “Iran-aligned” groups for the “dangerous escalation.”US forces in Syria and Iraq have faced a spate of attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last fall, with close to 170 attacks targeting both bases and military sites built on top of the occupied Omar Oil Field and Conoco Gas Plant. Attacks dropped off radically in February in an uneasy truce, but ramped back up again in July.US defense chief Lloyd Austin told reporters this week that the Pentagon has put measures in place “to protect our troops and also make sure we’re in a good position to aid in the defense of Israel if called upon to do that.”“So you’ve seen us do a number of things to strengthen our force posture,” Austin said.The Intercept reported this week that the US maintains some 63 bases, garrisons and shared facilities in countries across the Middle East, and that at least 145 US military personnel and contractors have been killed or wounded in the region since October.The fate of US forces in Iraq and Syria has been under debate since the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020. Donald Trump, who had admitted repeatedly in 2018 and 2019 that the US had troops in Syria “only for the oil,” vowed in 2020 to wind down the US presence in Syria and Iraq before the end of his first term, but was met with stalling and obfuscation by his subordinates, who stonewalled a potential Syrian withdrawal until Trump was out of office. Trump’s plans to draw down forces in Iraq were similarly scuppered, with his successors in the Biden administration formally ending the US ‘combat mission’ in Iraq in late 2021, but keeping the troops stationed there in a ‘training and advisory’ role, despite demands by the Iraqi parliament that the forces be completely withdrawn.
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https://sputnikglobe.com/20240808/us-military-bases-are-being-used-to-pump-out-and-steal-syrian-oil-1119683912.html
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Explosions Rock US Occupation Base in Syria as Pentagon Ramps Up Illegal Troop Deployments
The US operates about a dozen military bases in strategic energy and food-rich areas of northeastern Syria. Washington has used the occupation in combination with crushing sanctions as part of a strategy aimed at suffocating Damascus economically after failing to oust its internationally-recognized government in a CIA-backed dirty war.
US occupation forces went on high alert early Saturday morning after a kamikaze drone attacked the Kharab al-Jir Air Base in Syria’s Hasakah province.
Regional media citing local sources reported
“multiple explosions” inside the base, with no information given on the extent of possible damage to the facility or possible casualties. No group or faction has claimed responsibility.
Media reported earlier that a US military cargo aircraft had
arrived at the base on Friday, carrying military and logistical equipment and about two dozen troops.
An anonymous US defense official
confirmed to US media that the base had been targeted. “Initial reports do not indicate any injuries, however medical evaluations are ongoing. We are currently conduction a damage assessment,” the official said.
The escalating violence follows efforts by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces militia this week to enforce a blockade targeting the Syrian government-controlled eastern cities of al-Hasakah and Qamishli, including by blocking deliveries of food and fuel, after accusing them of facilitating an attack in Deir ez-Zor region on Wednesday by local nomadic Arab tribesmen restless over the SDF’s ongoing occupation. Syrian media
reported Friday that nine members of one family were injured, three of them gravely, in a shelling attack in Deir ez-Zor by SDF fighters targeting their home.
A Syrian military source told Sputnik last week that the US occupation forces have ramped up their presence in Hasakah province with 15 Apache helicopter gunships amid escalating regional violence.
The US illegally maintains at least 900 troops in Syria, and 2,500 more in neighboring Iraq. An Iraqi militia leader recently vowed to draw up a
“timetable” for the US’s expulsion from the country. On Monday,
five US personnel and two contractors were injured in a rocket attack at the Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq. The Pentagon blamed “Iran-aligned” groups for the “dangerous escalation.”
US forces in Syria and Iraq have faced a spate of attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last fall, with close to 170 attacks targeting both bases and military sites built on top of the occupied Omar Oil Field and Conoco Gas Plant. Attacks dropped off radically in February in an uneasy truce, but ramped back up again in July.
US defense chief Lloyd Austin told reporters this week that the Pentagon has put measures in place “to protect our troops and also make sure we’re in a good position to aid in the defense of Israel if called upon to do that.”
“So you’ve seen us do a number of things to strengthen our force posture,” Austin said.
The Intercept reported this week that the US maintains some
63 bases, garrisons and shared facilities in countries across the Middle East, and that at least 145 US military personnel and contractors have been killed or wounded in the region since October.
“The indefinite US military presences in Iraq, Syria, and around the region have near-zero genuine strategic value for the American people, but DC national security elites still think the risk is well worth it. Those concerned with the well-being of our service members – such as their families – are likely less comfortable with these soldiers being sitting ducks for local militias,” Just Foreign Policy executive director Erik Sperling told the outlet.
The fate of US forces in Iraq and Syria has been under debate since the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020. Donald Trump, who had admitted repeatedly in 2018 and 2019 that the US had troops in Syria “only for the oil,” vowed in 2020 to wind down the US presence in Syria and Iraq before the end of his first term, but was
met with stalling and obfuscation by his subordinates, who stonewalled a potential Syrian withdrawal until Trump was out of office. Trump’s plans to draw down forces in Iraq were similarly scuppered, with his successors in the Biden administration formally ending the US ‘combat mission’ in Iraq in late 2021, but keeping the troops stationed there in a
‘training and advisory’ role, despite demands by the Iraqi parliament that the forces be completely withdrawn.
13 November 2020, 18:42 GMT
