Four US soldiers suffered minor injuries and possible traumatic brain injury after a rocket attack on a base in eastern Syria, the US-led coalition in Syria announced on Thursday.
Two rounds of rocket fire hit two support buildings in the Green Village base near Syria’s largest oilfield, called Al-Omar, in eastern Deir Ez-Zor province on Wednesday night.
The incident is under investigation while no group has taken responsibility for the rocket fire.
The attack is the first of its kind reported against US forces in Syria since January, when the coalition retaliated against Iran-backed militia for a previous rocket attack near the same base.
The attack did not cause any casualties but did cause damage.
Washington blamed Iran-backed militias for the attack and responded with six rounds of artillery towards the point of origin. The coalition had also conducted pre-emptive strikes against rocket launch sites that posed an “imminent threat” near the Green Village hours before the attack.
The issue of traumatic brain injuries in US Central Command has gained more and more attention in the past two years, following a rocket attack on Iraq’s al-Asad Air Base in January 2020. Pentagon officials initially reported no casualties, but subsequent screenings in the following weeks found that more than 100 troops had suffered TBIs.
