US Forces in Syria Attacked Four Times in Less than 24 Hours, Says Official

US troops patrol near an oil field in al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on June 14, 2023. (AFP)
US troops patrol near an oil field in al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on June 14, 2023. (AFP)
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US Forces in Syria Attacked Four Times in Less than 24 Hours, Says Official

US troops patrol near an oil field in al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on June 14, 2023. (AFP)
US troops patrol near an oil field in al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on June 14, 2023. (AFP)

US and international forces in northeastern Syria were attacked with drones and rockets at least four times in the past 24 hours, though there were no casualties and only minor damage, a US military official said on Monday.

US forces came under attack three times on Sunday evening, including near the Al Omar Oil field and at a US base at al-Shaddadi, the official told Reuters.

Multiple drones were fired at US forces at the Rumalyn Landing Zone on Monday morning, the official said. One drone was shot down but another damaged four tents, the official added.

The attacks came after the US carried out two air strikes on Sunday against facilities it said were used by Iran-aligned groups, its third set of strikes in Syria in as many weeks.

US and coalition troops have been attacked at least 40 times in Iraq and Syria since early October. Statements, purportedly from militant groups, have said the assaults are in response to US support for Israel in the war in Gaza.

So far, at least 56 US personnel have suffered everything from minor wounds to traumatic brain injuries, though all have returned to duty, the Pentagon has said.

The US blames the attacks on groups backed by Iran - an assertion dismissed by Tehran which says the groups are acting on their own accord.

The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 more in neighboring Iraq, whom it says are on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which in 2014 seized large swathes of both countries but was later pushed back.

Security analysts say there is growing concern that the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread through the Middle East and turn US troops at isolated bases into targets.



Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Report: France Issues New Arrest Warrant for Syria's Assad

A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)
A damaged portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hangs in the city of Qamishli, as Syrian Kurds celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters on December 8, 2024. (AFP)

Two French investigating magistrates have issued an arrest warrant against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, the second such move by France's judicial authorities, a source said on Tuesday.

Assad, who was ousted late last year in a lightning offensive by opposition forces, is held responsible in the warrant issued on Monday as "commander-in-chief of the armed forces" for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a civilian, a source close to the case, asking not to be named, told AFP.

This mandate was issued as part of an investigation into the case of Salah Abou Nabout, a 59-year-old Franco-Syrian national and former French teacher, who was killed on June 7, 2017 following the bombing of his home by Syrian army helicopters.

The French judiciary considers that Assad ordered and provided the means for this attack, according to the source.

Six senior Syrian army officials are already the target of French arrest warrants over the case in an investigation that began in 2018.

"This case represents the culmination of a long fight for justice, in which I and my family believed from the start," said Omar Abou Nabout, the victim's son, in a statement.

He expressed hope that "a trial will take place and that the perpetrators will be arrested and judged, wherever they are".

French authorities in November 2023 issued a first arrest warrant against Assad over chemical attacks in 2013 where more than a thousand people, according to American intelligence, were killed by sarin gas.

While considering Assad's participation in these attacks "likely", public prosecutors last year issued an appeal against the warrant on the grounds that Assad should have immunity as a head of state.

However, his ouster has now changed his status and potential immunity. Assad and his family fled to Russia after his fall, according to Russian authorities.