Russian Federation today accused the US-led coalition of deploying missiles against Syrian troops at a garrison in the east of the country where rebels battling the Islamic State group are being trained. Its movement to the Tanf area brings significant military power to an area recently in the spotlight due to several coalition strikes against pro-Syrian regime forces and the downing of a pro-regime drone by the United States on June 8.
Abu al-Atheer said the USA special forces were now patrolling distances of up to 100 km from Tanf.
Although this marks the first HIMARS deployment in southern Syria, a U.S. official told CNN that the HIMARS had previously been used to aid the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria during their campaign against the Islamic State group. He said more US special forces were arriving at both the original base at Tanf and the new base at Zakf, and more weapons had been delivered to rebels.
Despite of militants' statements, the Coalition Command is still denying the fact of setting up the new base in Syria.
Washington deployed the HIMARS on the Turkish border to strike at Islamic State outposts.
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"Deployment of any foreign weaponry to Syria, especially multiple artillery rocket systems, has to be coordinated with the sovereign state's government", the ministry's statement read. Pro-government forces have taken up positions north of Tanf, potentially cutting off the US -backed rebels from advancing.
Al-Tanf, on the key highway connecting Damascus with Baghdad, has been the focus of advances by Iran-backed troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The rebels also want to use it to take more territory along the border and to push towards Deir al-Zor, a large city on the Euphrates where the government has an enclave surrounded by Islamic State fighters. And publicly, senior officials have insisted that the clashes with pro-regime fighters are purely in self-defense and that the USA and the coalition will remain focused on battling ISIS.
"The battle is not over and we will not allow the Iranian Shi'ites to occupy our land".
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