CNN - Rockets landed at a US military base in eastern Syria, prompting US forces to return fire on Monday, a day after the US carried out airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias, according to a spokesman for the US-led military mission in Syria.
A US defense official with direct knowledge of the rocket fire said it is "likely" they were launched by Iranian-backed militias operating in the immediate area, near Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, but the origin of the rockets has not been confirmed and the official could not immediately say how many projectiles were fired. Some rockets did land within the immediate vicinity of US troops, but early reports indicated there were no injuries.
"U.S. Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. There are no injuries and damage is being assessed," Col. Wayne Maratto, a spokesman for the US-led mission in Syria, tweeted.
Maratto later added in a second tweet that, "U.S. Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self- defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions."
On Sunday, the White House said it had directed the military to conduct defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region following a recent spate of attacks against US military facilities and personnel in Iraq by a new class of Iranian-made drones that US officials say can evade US surveillance and defenses.
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