A handout picture released by Syria’s General Organization of Radio and Television Telegram channel on Nov. 23, 2022, shows a fire at an unspecified hydrocarbon facility reportedly following a Turkish airstrike near Tal Awdah in northeastern Syria’s Hasakah province.
A Turkish airstrike launched as part of Ankara’s new offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters came uncomfortably close to hitting U.S. forces in northeastern Syria, further escalating tensions in the region, two sources told VOA.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees the approximately 900 U.S. troops in Syria tasked with countering the Islamic State terror group, first acknowledged the strike Tuesday, saying no U.S. personnel were at the base at the time.
But a U.S. defense official told VOA late Wednesday that U.S. troops were nearby, within 300 meters of the base, located north of the city of Hasakah.
A source close to the leadership of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, further told VOA that the base is part of a larger compound and that U.S. forces were in a different building that is not part of the base itself.
U.S. military officials have been hesitant to share additional details but appeared to acknowledge the severity of the incident in a statement late Wednesday.
“Recent airstrikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than 10,000 ISIS detainees,” said Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder.
“Immediate de-escalation is necessary in order to maintain focus on the defeat-ISIS mission and ensure the safety and security of personnel on the ground,” he added. “We will continue to discuss with Turkiye and our local partners maintaining cease-fire arrangements.”
SDF officials said Tuesday’s airstrike killed two U.S.-trained members of its counterterrorism forces.
An SDF spokesman told VOA on Wednesday that U.S. troops had been at the base itself just five days earlier, doing some aerial surveillance of the area.
The U.S. revelation that the Turkish airstrike had directly endangered U.S. personnel followed repeated calls by U.S. officials for Turkey and the Syrian Kurds to pull back.
On Wednesday, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart, emphasizing the need to maintain communications.
Turkey launched its most recent offensive, Operation Claw-Sword, against the Syrian Kurds this past week, blaming them for a November 13 bombing in Istanbul that killed at least eight people and injured dozens more.
Source: VOA
