United States Central Command confirmed Wednesday that a pair of rockets targeted US coalition forces at a military base sitting on top of the country’s biggest gas field.
“Two rockets targeted coalition forces at Mission Support Site Conoco, northeast Syria, today at approximately 9am local time in Syria,” CENTCOM said in a press release. “The attack resulted in no injuries or damage to the base or coalition property. Syrian Democratic Forces visited the rocket origin site and found a third unfired rocket.”
“Attacks of this kind place coalition forces and the civilian populace at risk and undermine the hard-earned stability and security of Syria and the region,” CENTCOM spokesman Joe Buccino was quoted as saying.
CENTCOM’s statement corroborated reporting by a Sputnik Arabic correspondent from earlier in the day that the US occupation base at the Conoco natural gas field had been struck in a rocket attack. Local sources described the attack as “the most violent of their kind” to date, and said it involved 10 rockets, not two, as claimed by CENTCOM.
“Immediately after the strike, sirens sounded” and ambulances were dispatched to the base as plumes of smoke and fire poured into the sky, and US military jets and drones flew over the area, according to the correspondent.
Wednesday’s rocket attack followed US live fire drills at the al-Omar oil field – situated near the Conoco gas field, on Tuesday.
US forces and their SDF allies captured the Conoco gas field in September 2017, and have held onto it ever since, preventing the Syrian government from accessing it and other energy resources, which are concentrated in northeastern Syria.
Syria’s energy minister has estimated that the US controls upwards of 90 percent of the country’s oil resources, and consistently pillages them via convoys sent through illegal border crossings into Iraq. The US occupation has deprived Syria of its oil and gas reserves – which allowed Damascus to enjoy energy self-sufficiency and a modest export income, before the foreign-backed war in the country began in 2011.
Syria has repeatedly demanded that the US withdraw. Last month, Iran, which has assisted Damascus with emergency fuel supplies for years, slammed Washington and its allies for stealing Syria’s oil wealth.
Also on Wednesday, Syrian media reported that the US occupation forces had taken two vehicle convoys consisting of 60 trucks loaded with oil and wheat out of the country.