US occupation bases under fire in Syria for second day in a row
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The US base in Syria's Conoco gas plant and Al-Omar base are hit with a barrage of rockets for the second time in 24 hours.
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Crewmen enter Bradley fighting vehicles at a US military base at an undisclosed location in Northeastern Syria, on November 11, 2019 (AP)
Several rockets hit the US bases in the occupied Conoco gas field and Al-Omar oil field east of Deir Ezzor, Eastern Syria, people familiar with the matter told Al Mayadeen on Friday.
Following the shelling of the bases, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported that US helicopters were hovering over the US Conoco gas fields east of the Euphrates river.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Friday that ten rockets targeted coalition forces at the Mission Support Site Green Village compound in northeast Syria on March 24.
🚨 انفجارات تدوي في القاعدة الأمريكية في حقل العمر النفطي شرق دير الزور، جراء قصف صاروخي عنيف منذ قليل. pic.twitter.com/AchkGVeBC9
— SAM 🇸🇾 (@SAMSyria0) March 24, 2023
The US shelling came after media reports said Friday that missile strikes targeted a US occupation base in the Al-Omar field, the largest oil field in Syria located in the governorate of Deir Ezzor in the country's northeast.
طائرات مروحية من طراز الأباتشي وطائرات حربية أمريكية تحلق في سماء ريف دير الزور الآن. pic.twitter.com/sSeLbBBy73
— SAM 🇸🇾 (@SAMSyria0) March 24, 2023
The United States was investigating the reason why its air defense system was not fully operational during a strike on a US base in Syria, The New York Times reported Friday.
One of the officials explained that the Avenger missile defense system on the base, RLZ, may have been experiencing some unexpected maintenance issues, although the fact that the troops were on high alert given the frequent attacks they are subjected to in light of their occupation of Syrian territory, the report said.
The US military currently has no knowledge as to why the system did not work as it should, and the circumstances are being investigated at present time, the report said, citing two officials.
Two occupation soldiers injured during the attack were treated on site, while three others were evacuated to the medical facility in Iraq along with a wounded contractor, NYT said.
It was reported earlier in the day that armed groups fired about a dozen rockets at a US base while attacking a second base in the area, but the strike led to no casualties.
The US military controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, and Deir Ezzor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located. The Syrian government has repeatedly called the US military presence in the provinces an occupation aimed at plundering the country's oil.
The US military said it carried out "precision airstrikes" in eastern Syria on Thursday in response to an alleged drone attack that killed one American and injured five US service personnel.
A Department of Defense statement claimed that the casualties fell "after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria."
The US has for long employed the alleged "ISIS threat" as a pretext to continue its illegal occupation of northeastern Syrian territories, frequently looting oil and gas from Syrian fields and transporting them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.
