US Forces, Allied SDF Militants Injured in Rocket Attack on Syria Oil Field: Report

Tuesday, 29 June 2021 9:04 AM 

Press TV

The file photo shows a US armored vehicle passing by a Syrian oil field.

A rocket attack on a US-occupied Syrian oil filed has reportedly wounded several American forces and allied militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of mainly Kurdish forces fighting against Damascus.

Citing Syrian sources, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported that seven SDF elements, including a commander, sustained injuries on Monday night in the rocket strike on Omar oil field in Syria’s eastern Dayr al-Zawr province.

The injured were taken to al-Shaddadi hospital in Hasakah province, the report said.

It also cited sources close to SDF as saying that an unidentified number of US army soldiers and other foreign troops were wounded in the attack.

The US military confirmed the attack, but denied any American casualties.

“At 7:44 P local time, US Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. There are no injuries and damage is being assessed,” sadi Coly. Wayne Morrotto, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, a codename for a US-led offensive targeting Iraq and Syria since 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh.

The US military says rockets have hit an illegal American base in Syria.

The rocket strike came one day after the US, at the order of President Joe Biden, bombarded locations along the Iraqi-Syrian border, killing four Iraqi resistance fighters.

Some sources in al-Bukamal city in Dayr al-Zawr told Sputnik that the US aerial assault also killed a Syrian child and injured three other civilians.

An official source at the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Damascus condemns the US blatant aggression and considers it a flagrant violation of the Iraqi and Syrian sovereignty, according to SANA news agency.

The offensive, he added, proves once again the recklessness of US policies and underlines the need for the withdrawal of its hostile forces from the region.

Such attacks escalate the tense situation in the region and prove “what we have repeatedly said in Syria that the US military presence in our region is basically meant to serve the Israeli goals and the separatist forces contrary to the interests of its people,” according to the official Syrian source.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the US and its allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the Arab country.

The United States has deployed forces and military equipment in Syria without any authorization from Damascus or the UN. It has long been training militants and stealing Syria’s oil, ignoring repeated calls by Damascus to end its occupation of the country.