CENTCOM: 11 More US Troopers Diagnosed With ’Traumatic Brain Injury’ After Last Month’s Ops in Syria

By Staff, Agencies

A spokesman for US Central Command [CENTCOM] claimed 11 more American troopers have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury following a series of attacks that targeted US occupation bases in Syria back in March.

“Our medical teams continue to assess and evaluate our troops for indications of [traumatic brain injury],” said Col. Joe Buccino, spokesman for CENTCOM.

The new cases bring the number of US personnel wounded in the operations to a total of 25, including one US contractor who was killed at a facility in Hasakah, northeast Syria, on March 23 in an alleged drone attack that Washington attributed to IRG-backed resistance groups.

The US troops, whose presence in Syria is illegal under international law, carried out what they called "precision airstrikes" in eastern Syria on the same day.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today's attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a statement, noting that the aggression was carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, local sources pointed out that the target was not an Iran-aligned military post as the US military claimed, but rather a rural development center and a grain center in Hrabash neighborhood, near Deir Ez-Zor military airport.

On March 24, more than 20 rockets are reportedly fired against two illegal American outposts based near the al-Omar oilfield and the Koniko gas field in Syria's Deir Ez-Zor Province.

One week after the attacks on US illegal bases, the Pentagon announced that six service members had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, also cautioning the number may grow since symptoms develop over time.

"All personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury. So, these additional injuries were identified during post-attack medical screenings," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing on March 30.

Mild traumatic brain injuries can lead to changes in personality and balance issues as well as symptoms such as dizziness, confusion, headaches, and irritability.

Meanwhile, some observers believe the US military does not openly acknowledges when it suffers casualties in the occupied territories due to retaliatory attacks by resistance fighters and rather, it uses the term “brain injuries” for fallen soldiers.

They say the term “brain injuries” reflects the number of dead, which the US hesitates to formally announce.

The US has for long employed the alleged "Daesh threat" as a pretext to continue its illegal occupation of northeastern Syrian territories.

US occupation forces frequently loot oil from Syrian gas fields and transport them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.