Three US troops in Syria evaluated for brain injuries after Deir ez-Zor incident
It remains unclear whether the injured American troops were involved in supporting a nearby effort by US-backed militia to oust pro-Assad forces from local villages east of the Euphrates River.
WASHINGTON — Three US troops in Syria are being medically evaluated for traumatic brain injuries after incoming mortar rounds landed near the MSS Euphrates base east of Deir ez-Zor on Tuesday, Pentagon officials confirmed on Thursday.
The incident involved suspected pro-Syrian government forces firing rockets and mortars toward US troops in the vicinity of the base. The US military also launched strikes in response to what defense officials said was an “a clear and imminent threat” posed by those weapon systems, the Pentagon said this week.
Nearby, US-supported local militia fighters of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council battled the pro-regime troops for control of key villages along the Euphrates River on Tuesday, just a few kilometers from the US base. The Deir ez-Zor Military Council is a subsidiary of a Kurdish-led alliance of militias backed by the United States in the fight against ISIS, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
US drones struck and destroyed mortars, three MLRS artillery trucks and a T-64 tank, military officials said Tuesday.
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder on Thursday underscored once again that the US strikes were made in self-defense. “Our forces in that region were threatened. We took action to mitigate that threat, and we'll do so again,” he told reporters during a press briefing.
The Pentagon has sought to distance the exchange of fire from the DMC’s nearby ground incursion, which appeared aimed at ousting pro-Assad regime forces from nearby villages around the town of Khashm. Al-Monitor previously reported the US-led coalition in Syria had coordinated with the SDF on the operation and provided assistance during its execution.
“This location has been used in the past by groups like Iranian-backed militias to target US forces at MSS Euphrates,” Ryder acknowledged on Thursday.
Ryder denied during Thursday's press briefing that US troops in the area had been involved in any “combined arms maneuver with the SDF" when incident occurred. But he did not deny that US forces had supported the SDF ground operation in other ways.
“Certainly, they communicate with the SDF on a frequent basis, as partners do,” Ryder told reporters on Thursday. “We're aware of what the SDF is doing. I'm not going to talk about SDF operations.”
The troops were being evaluated in Syria and have not been evacuated from the country, US officials said. One US official said they are expected to return to duty soon. Ryder and other officials cautioned, however, that the number of soldiers evaluated for TBI resulting from the incident could rise due to the latent nature of symptoms for concussive injuries.
The skirmish was not directly linked to an ongoing Syrian rebel offensive on the other side of the country in Aleppo and Hama, defense officials said.
