Report: Rockets fired at facility hosting US troops in Syria

US military denies any that US forces in Syria were attacked by rockets.

Elad Benari , Jul 05 , 2021 1:04 AM

 

Syria

Syria

Reuters

A facility housing US troops in eastern Syria came under attack late Sunday when rockets were fired from nearby areas, an opposition war monitor, state media and a spokesman for US-backed fighters said, though the US military denied there was any attack, according to The Associated Press.

“There is no truth to the reports that US forces in Syria were attacked by rockets today,” tweeted coalition spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto.

Earlier on Sunday, Siyamend Ali, a spokesman for the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said two rockets were fired at Al-Omar field in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour without inflicting any casualties.

He added that it was not immediately clear where the rockets were fired from.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets were fired from areas controlled by Iran-backed fighters in the area of Mayadeen, also in Deir el-Zour.

Sunday’s incident comes six days after US troops in eastern Syria came under a similar attack. That attacked followed US air strikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.

Rocket attacks have regularly targeted Iraqi bases as well as the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is located, since the US elimination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last January.

Last week’s air strikes were not the first time that the Biden administration has retaliated for attacks on US targets in Iraq.

In February, the US bombed a border depot in Syria which the Pentagon said was used by Iran-backed Iraqi armed militia that have been tied to the rocket attacks. The strikes followed a rocket attack targeting an airbase in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others, among them a US soldier.

US President Joe Biden described the February attack as a “warning” to Iran.


 

The Bennett-Lapid government is working to end the flow of Qatari suitcases full of cash into the Gaza Strip, Channel 12 News reported Friday night. Instead of the existing procedure, whereby every few weeks a car full of cash in suitcases and envelopes from Qatar arrives at the Gaza Strip border crossing, delivering the loot directly to Hamas, a new money transfer mechanism will be established through a UN fund, which will make it possible to monitor the destinations where the funds actually arrive.

Hamas and Qatar initially opposed the new mechanism, but according to Palestinian Authority sources who spoke with TPS, Egyptian pressure on Hamas is working, as is Hamas’ challenging situation in the Gaza Strip, which has led to the end of its opposition to the new money transfer mechanism.

Of all the criticisms leveled at the Netanyahu government, the most effective one over the years has been regarding transferring the suitcases full of money to Hamas. But now the two politicians who were most critical of the move hold key positions in the new government: Avigdor Liberman is finance minister, Bennett is prime minister. Should they be able to develop verifiable ways of helping the Gaza Strip civilian population which has been mired in a perpetual humanitarian crisis—without letting any of the money fall into Hamas’ hands, it would show up the opposition chairman in a big way.

No money has been transferred to the Gaza Strip over the last three months due to Operation Guardian of the Walls, and then the new Israeli government’s insistence on establishing the mechanism.

It should be noted that while the Qatari money has been kept out of Gaza, last week, seventeen trucks carrying gasoline purchased by Qatar entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The fuel will be used to power Gaza’s only electric power station. It was the first time that fuel has been allowed to enter Gaza since the start of the fighting in May.

Finally, Israeli firefighters on Friday and Saturday fought fires that were caused by incendiary balloons from Gaza. Perhaps Israel should set some of those cash suitcases on fire right outside the border fence.


It was the third time Israel has carried out airstrikes in Gaza since the end of the 11-day war that Hamas started in May.

By Associated Press

Israeli fighter jets struck a weapons manufacturing site in Gaza overnight in response to incendiary balloons and arson attacks launched over the border into Israel, the military said early Friday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strike, which targeted a facility used by the Islamic terror group Hamas to research and develop weapons.

It was the third time Israel has carried out airstrikes in Gaza since the end of the 11-day war that Hamas started in May.

Each came after terrorists mobilized by Hamas launched incendiary balloons that caused fires in nearby Israeli farming communities.

Over the course of the past three years, the terror group has used the tactic to cause millions of dollars of damage in Israel, killing wildlife and destroying dunam after dunam of nature preserves.

As a result, Israel has vowed to respond to even minor attacks.

Egyptian and international mediators have been trying to shore up the informal cease-fire that ended the most recent war. In recent days, Israel has eased restrictions to allow in Qatar-funded fuel, extend Gaza’s fishing zone and permit increased cross-border commerce.

Israel says such steps are contingent on Hamas preserving calm along the frontier.