Rockets target US base in east Syria

Two rockets targeted a U.S. base in eastern Syria on Wednesday but did not cause any casualties, the U.S. military announced. 

The morning attack on Mission Support Site Conoco, used by American troops and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), “resulted in no injuries or damage to the base or coalition property,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. 

It is not yet known what group was behind the attacks and no one has yet claimed responsibility, though the strikes come shortly after the third anniversary of a U.S. drone attack that killed Iran’s elite Quds force chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. 

“Attacks of this kind place Coalition Forces and the civilian populace at risk and undermine the hard-earned stability and security of Syria and the region,” CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said in the statement. 

The release added that SDF troops visited the rocket origin site and found a third unfired rocket.  

Mission Support Site Conoco, a U.S. military outpost next to a natural gas field, was last attacked in August when several rockets landed inside its perimeter, minorly injuring one service member. 

Roughly 900 U.S. troops are based in Syria, and attacks on the bases that house them are not uncommon as Iran-backed militia and Islamic State fighters remain in the area.  

American forces are in the country to help the Kurdish-led SDF prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which was defeated in Syria in March 2019, and to manage Iran’s influence in the region.