DAMASCUS, (Sputnik) - A US base at a Conoco gas field in the province of Deir ez-Zur in eastern Syria has been hit by five missiles, a Syrian military field source told Sputnik Saturday.
"Three missiles landed in the territory of the base at Conoco, the other two in the vicinity of the base. US helicopters took to the air after the shelling," the source said.
US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted with multiple attacks since October 2023 following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent conflict in the Gaza Strip. The United States' backing of Israel has inflamed public opinion across the Muslim world as the official death toll of its operation in the Gaza Strip approaches 40,000.
The US military currently controls parts of the provinces of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zur and Al-Hasakah, where Syria's largest oil and gas fields are located. The Syrian government considers the presence of the US military on its territory an act of occupation and state piracy.
Former President Donald Trump, in an example of the type of braggadocio that earned him opposition within the US intelligence community, publicly boasted that the United States would remain in Syria to plunder its oil.
“They say ‘he left troops in Syria.' You know what I did? I left troops to take the oil. I took the oil. The only troops I have are taking the oil. They’re protecting the oil,” Trump once said, speaking to Fox News.
US troops have remained stationed at Syria's largest oil and gas fields under Trump's successor, Democratic President Joe Biden.