US troops come under fire in Syria after weekend airstrikes

U.S. forces in Syria came under fire on Monday, a day after the Pentagon launched airstrikes on Iran-backed militia groups on the Iraq-Syria border.

Col. Wayne Marotto, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, confirmed the attack on Twitter, saying it occurred around 7:44 p.m. local time in Syria. No injuries were reported.

Initial report: At approx. 7:44 PM local time, U.S. Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. There are no injuries and damage is being assessed. We will provide updates when we have more information.

— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) June 28, 2021

Marotto later tweeted that U.S. forces responded by conducting “counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions.”

Update: U.S. Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self- defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions.

— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) June 28, 2021

The attack comes just one day after the U.S. carried out airstrikes on weapons storage facilities operated by the Iran-backed militia groups Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. U.S. military officials believe that the storage facilities were being used for unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against American troops based in Iraq.

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” the Pentagon said in a statement Sunday.

“The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope. As a matter of domestic law, the President took this action pursuant to his Article II authority to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq,” the Pentagon added.