Three US Troops Examined for Brain Injuries After Syria Attack

The attack occurred while the US was backing an offensive against villages in eastern Syria that are controlled by the Syrian government

The Pentagon said Thursday that three US troops are being examined for traumatic brain injuries after an attack on a US base in Syria that came as the US was backing a Kurdish-led offensive against government-controlled villages.

US Central Command said it launched airstrikes on Tuesday in eastern Syria in response to an attack on a US base and said it destroyed multiple trucks with rocket launcher systems and a T-64 battle tank.

CENTCOM framed the strikes as “self-defense,” leaving out the context that the US base came under attack while the US was backing an SDF offensive with artillery fire.

According to Al-Monitor, the offensive was led by the Deir Ezzor Military Council, a militia that falls under the SDF, and the US was supporting them as they “attempted to seize control of a series of villages occupied by pro-Assad forces just a few kilometers from the US base.”

The Al-Monitor report noted that the US-backed forces were taking advantage of the offensive launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaeda offshoot, against the Syrian government in the northwest.

The report said the HTS offensive offered the US a “narrow opportunity to beef up control of Syria’s oil-rich region before more Iranian-aligned reinforcements flow into the country to bolster the Assad regime — and before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.”

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.