WASHINGTON— The US military destroyed rocket launchers, a tank and mortars in eastern Syria on Tuesday because they represented a “threat”, reported the Pentagon.
These weapons systems “presented a clear and imminent threat to US and coalition forces,” US Defense Department spokesman General Pat Ryder told reporters.
Refers to the international coalition fighting the group Islamic State (EI) in the region.
“We are evaluating who was using these weapons, but we know that there are Iranian-backed militia groups in the area that have carried out attacks” in the past, Ryder added.
The United States has deployed approximately 2,500 troops to Iraq and 900 to Syria as part of an international coalition created in 2014 to combat the Islamic State group jihadists, who had taken control of large parts of Syrian and Iraqi territories before being defeated. in 2019.
There are still active jihadist cells, especially in rural areas and far from big cities.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, pro-Iran groups have resumed their attacks against US interests in Iraq and Syria. Washington, Israel’s main ally, has counterattacked on numerous occasions.
On November 27, a coalition of rebels dominated by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, launched a lightning offensive in northwest Syria, seizing dozens of towns and a large part of Aleppo, the country’s second city.
General Ryder assured Tuesday that the US attack is not “related to the broader activities carried out by other groups in northwestern Syria.”
