For Second Time in Hours, US Military Base in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr Comes Under Rocket Attack

Thursday, 25 August 2022 2:01 PM 

In this file picture, a US military vehicle patrols near Rmeilan oil field in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah. (Photo by AFP)

A military facility housing US occupation forces in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr has come under attack for the second time in a few hours when rockets fired from nearby areas hit the facility.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that a number of rockets were launched at the base inside the Conoco gas field on Thursday afternoon.

The sources added that it was not quickly confirmed whether the projectiles caused any casualties and where the rockets were fired from.

The development came only a few hours after a rocket attack on the same US-occupied Syrian oil field wounded at least three American service members.

A plume of smoke was seen rising out of the area following the strike, SANA said.

The occupying American forces have “closed the area,” civilian sources noted, saying American aircraft had started staging extensive flights over the area.

US military fighters have carried out an airstrike against military facilities in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, with no reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage available.

American warplanes carried out a fresh airstrike in Dayr al-Zawr in the early hours of Wednesday.

The US military's Central Command, which oversees the American forces in the West Asia region, said in a statement that the aerial assault had been aimed at "protecting US forces from attacks." It said the strike had targeted military infrastructure facilities run by Syrian government forces and their allies.

Reporting earlier in the day, The Washington Post cited the US military as claiming that it had "targeted infrastructure used by groups with ties to Iran’s" Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani dismissed the claim, describing the strike as a "terrorist" act against the people of Syria and the popular anti-terror groups in the country, and denying any link between the groups and the Islamic Republic.

Iran strongly condemns airstrikes by the occupying US forces in eastern Syria.

The US military said the airstrikes were in response to an August 15 attack, when armed drones hit the vicinity of the al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria near the borders with Jordan and Iraq, where US-led occupation forces were deployed in large numbers.

The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists. 

Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country's rich mineral resources.

Former US president Donald Trump admitted on more than one occasion that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil.