US Military units in Syria have taken casualties in exchanges of fire with local militia groups, in the latest of multiple incidents which have seen the occupation force in the country’s northeast challenged.
American positions known as the Green Village were reportedly targeted by rocket artillery and drones, which caused seven casualties including two deaths among American personnel including both service members and contractors.
U.S. forces responded by deploying two F-15E strike fighters based nearby to strike what were believed to be the positions of the attackers.
The drone was reported to have been of Iranian origin, with Iranian drones having widely undermined American interests in recent months including with widespread deployments by Russian forces in the Ukrainian theater.
The limited firepower available to U.S. forces within Syria itself has led to a consistently reliance on deployments of aircraft based elsewhere in the region to provide fire support, with the F-15E having a high endurance and relatively high availability rates which has made it an optimal aircraft for such missions.
Syria represents the only theater since the Korean War where U.S. Army ground units have come under attack from enemy aircraft.Â
American forces alongside supporting units from Western allies such as Norway and Britain have since the late 2010’s controlled Syria’s resource rich northeast and appropriated considerable funds from the extraction and sale of oil there.
This is placing further pressure on the Syrian government which, alongside intensive Western economic sanctions, has been key to preventing post war recovery.
The presence of Western forces is widely considered illegal due to the lack of UN authorization or permission from the Syrian government.
Although major counterinsurgency efforts by Damascus and its allies against a range of Al Qaeda linked groups limited their ability to respond when the occupation was first imposed.
Military Watch Magazine / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
