Four US personnel injured in Syria attack

Watchdog and tribal source say Iran-backed militia were behind the assault

The US coalition strikes the source of an attack, outside the eastern town of Al Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province, north-east Syria, on January 5. AFP

Four US personnel suffered minor injuries after air strikes on a base in eastern Syria, US officials said on Thursday.

The Syrian Observation for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain, and a tribal source said the attack was carried out by Iran-backed militias.

The US-led coalition said the service members were being evaluated for minor injuries and possible traumatic brain injuries after two rounds of "indirect fire" hit support buildings at the Green Village in eastern Syria.

An investigation was under way, the coalition said.

US forces moved into Syria during the campaign against ISIS, linking up with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Iran-backed militias have established a foothold in Syria while fighting in support of President Bashar Al Assad during the country's 11-year war.

A tribal source in the area said rockets were fired by an Iran-backed militia, and two landed in the area of al Omar oilfield where US forces are based in Deir Ezzor province, near the Iraqi border.

The rockets were launched from an area west of the Euphrates River, where Iran-backed militias have a presence, the source said.

Syrians stand on top of their gas canisters as they wait for a refill in front of a gas lorry provider in Kafranbel, Idlib province. Violence across Syria has resulted in shortages in gas, water and electricity.

A banker stacks packed Syrian lira bills at the Central Bank in Damascus on August 25, 2011. US sanctions have forced Syria to stop all transactions in US dollars, with the country turning completely to euro deals, the governor of the Central Bank Adib Mayaleh told the AFP during an interview.

Farmers spread around wheat kernels unloaded from a combine harvester before being packaged into sacks, in a field in the countryside of al-Kaswa, south of Syria's capital Damascus on June 18, 2020. - Heavy rain and reduced violence provided a relief to Syrian farmers with a good harvest this year, as a tanking economy leaves millions hungry across his war-torn country. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, Syria produced more than 4.1 million tonnes of wheat, enough to feed its entire population. But production plunged to record lows during the war, boosting reliance on imports, mainly from regime ally Russia.

Vehicles queue at a gas station waiting to fill-up in the capital in Damascus on February 28, 2012. Syria will exhaust its foreign currency reserves in three to five months, sparking crisis in an economy reeling from sanctions over its crackdown on protests, a Western diplomat told reporters in London last week. AFP PHOTO/ANWAR AMRO

Syrians shop for clothes at a flea market in the capital Damascus on May 17, 2020, amid severe economic crisis that has been compounded by a coronavirus lockdown. - Prices have doubled over the past year, while the Syrian pound has reached record lows against the dollar, further driving up inflation. With most of the population living in poverty, Syrians have increasingly turned to flea markets to purchase clothes at a reasonable price.

A handout picture released by the local news site Suwayda 24 shows Syrians chanting anti-government slogans as they protest the country's deteriorating economic conditions and corruption, in the southern city of Suwaida on June 9, 2020.

A handout picture released by the local news site Suwayda 24 shows Syrians chanting anti-government slogans as they protest the country's deteriorating economic conditions and corruption, in the southern city of Suwaida on June 9, 2020.

The Observatory said rockets had been fired after midnight at the base from an area where Iran-backed militias hold influence. It said the US-led troops returned fire.

The Observatory also reported that explosions were heard in the area before noon on Thursday.

US troops came under rocket fire in the same area last year, in apparent retaliation for US air strikes against Iran-aligned militia in Syria and Iraq.

Iranian-backed militias are heavily concentrated west of the Euphrates in Deir Ezzor province, where they receive supplies from Iraq through the Bukamal border crossing.