[Tee tiong huat]

US says it carried out strike against ‘imminent threat’ in Syria. The attack comes as violence in Syria intensifies, with opposition fighters advancing against government positions.

Pentagon has confirmed that the United States carried out a strike against military assets in eastern Syria after a rocket attack near one of its bases. Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that the US military struck weapons systems — including rocket launchers and a tank — that “presented a clear and imminent threat” to its forces in the area.

US strike comes as violence escalates across the war-torn country. Over the last week, armed opposition groups carried out a blistering offensive in northwest Syria against the government forces led by President Bashar al-Assad, ushering in a new stage of the country’s long-running civil war.

The offensive has raised questions about how the US might respond and whether it could become entangled in the conflict, given its significant military presence in Syria. Ryder said on Tuesday that the attack was in response to a rocket launch that fell “in the vicinity” of Military Support Site (MSS) Euphrates, a US base in eastern Syria.

U.S. don't know who was op those weapons, but Iran-backed groups & Syrian govt forces are known to be in the area. East of the Euphrates River, near city of Deir ez-Zor. The SDF has received US support for years under the stated aim of fighting ISIL (ISIS). Syrian state-run Alikhbaria TV reported on Tuesday that clashes were taking place between SDF and government forces near the village of Tabiyet Jazira “with the intervention of US occupation jets that are targeting the frontlines in the area”.

The SDF had claimed earlier in the day that it took control of seven villages east of the Euphrates due to the “serious threat related to the imminent movement of large ISIS terrorist cells”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/3...t-in-syria