US Expands Presences in Syria, Deploys Long-Range Artillery System

Local Editor

An intelligence source said the US army had relocated a new truck-mounted, long-range missile launcher from Jordan to a base in Syria's al-Tanf.

According to CNN Tuesday, the US military moved its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System [HIMARS] from Jordan into southern Syria for the first time, positioning it near the US-Coalition training base at al-Tanf, three US war officials confirmed.

"They have arrived now in al-Tanf and they are a significant boost to the US military presence there," said the senior intelligence official quoted by Reuters.

He added that HIMARS is also deployed in northern Syria where US-backed forces are engaged in operations aimed at liberating Raqqa - Daesh's [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] last stronghold in the war-torn country.

The missile system's deployment at al-Tanf will give US forces the ability to strike targets within its 300-kilometer range.

Last week, US-led warplanes attacked a Syrian military position on the road to al-Tanf, killing a number of people and causing some material damage.

The US claims the air raid was carried out after Syrian forces "advanced inside the well-established de-confliction zone in southern Syria," where they posed a threat to "partner forces" based in al-Tanf.

The US-led coalition had been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

US Special Forces had been based since last year at al-Tanf, a strategic Syrian highway border crossing with Iraq, where the Americans had assisted armed groups allegedly trying to recapture territory from fleeing Daesh militants.

Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the US-led coalition, denied troops had set up a new base. But he said sometimes coalition forces conduct patrols and training with armed groups at locations outside al-Tanf that could be maintained for days or weeks.

However, Abu al-Atheer, military spokesman for the US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra armed group said the US Special Forces were now patrolling distances of up to 100 km from al-Tanf. He said more US special forces were arriving at both the original base at al-Tanf and the new base at Zakf, and more weapons had been delivered to the armed groups.

The coalition had repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It had also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying the Wahhabi Daesh terrorist group.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups had been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011.

syria | syrian conflict | us | himars | isis | isil | daesh | al tanf

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team