In the wake of the US strikes, the Syrian army declared that the US occupation of “certain parts” of Syrian territory “can no longer continue”. Some 900 American soldiers are deployed in Syria as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition created to fight the Islamic State group.
The American occupation of “certain parts” of Syrian territory “can no longer continue”, the Syrian army declared on Saturday, the day after American strikes which, according to the army, caused deaths, injuries and “significant damage”. These strikes, carried out in retaliation for the drone attack in which three American soldiers were killed at the end of January on a base in Jordan, near the border with Syria, resulted in “the deaths of a number of civilians and soldiers , injuries to others and significant damage,” according to an army statement.
“The occupation of certain parts of Syrian territory by American forces can no longer continue,” she added, affirming her “determination to liberate the entire Syrian territory from terrorism and occupation.” The United States said Friday it had “successfully” carried out retaliatory strikes targeting elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria. The intervention lasted approximately thirty minutes and was “a success,” said the White House. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), at least 18 pro-Iranian fighters have been killed in eastern Syria.
900 American soldiers deployed in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq
Some 900 American soldiers are deployed in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition created to fight the Islamic State group when the latter controlled entire swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory. The defeat of ISIS in Syria was declared in 2019 (and in Iraq in 2017), but the coalition remained in the country to fight against jihadist cells which continue to carry out attacks there.
Since mid-October, more than 165 drone strikes and rocket attacks have targeted American forces deployed as part of this coalition in Iraq and Syria, but no American soldier had been killed, until attack perpetrated on January 28 in Jordan.