U.S. reinforces its troops in Syria with HIMARS – Anadolu

31 May, 2023 Illustrative photo. M142 HIMARS rocket system.

2018. Photo credits: www.usarcent.army.mil

The U.S. has reinforced its military stationed near oil fields in eastern Syria with the HIMARS missile system. The Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported about this with reference to its own sources. According to Anadolu, HIMARS has been sent to the Syrian Deir ez-Zor province in recent days.

Deir ez-Zor province, located on the east of the Euphrates River, is currently occupied by the YPG/PKK (Kurdish People's Self-Defense Forces). It is also indicated that the HIMARS is located at "American bases in the area of the Al-Omar oilfield and the Conoco gas plant."

Deir ez-Zor and Al-Omar on the map of Syria

This move "aims to confront possible attacks by Iran-backed groups on the opposite bank of the Euphrates River," according to the Anadolu sources. U.S. forces in Syria have come under drone and missile attacks in several occasions from areas controlled by Iran-backed groups.

It is worth noting that the United States has been using HIMARS for a long time to defeat the positions of the so-called "Islamic State" in Syria. In 2016, the U.S. military from the territory of Turkey struck IS targets near the Turkish border with the help of the HIMARS rocket system. An agreement on the placement of these rocket systems was concluded between Washington and Ankara in April 2016.

Illustrative photo. M142 HIMARS rocket system.

2018. Photo credits: www.usarcent.army.mil

In 2017, the U.S. deployed this long-range artillery rocket system in southern Syria for the first time.

HIMARS was then redeployed from Jordan to southern Syria to a position near the US coalition training base at Al-Tanf.