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Mortar shells hit US-occupied military base in eastern Syria, no casualties: Report

Friday, 18 December 2020 6:20 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 18 December 2020 11:43 AM ]

In this file photo, an American military convoy stops near the town of Tel Tamr, northern Syria, on October 20, 2019. (Photo by AP)

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says several mortar shells have hit a military base occupied by US forces in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.

The London-based monitoring group reported that the projectiles landed on the US base at al-Omar oil field in eastern countryside of the province on Thursday evening. There was some material damage but no casualties.

The report added that the US forces and allied militants from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a manhunt later on to arrest those responsible for the assault.

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No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on the occupied base, which comes as a wave of anti-US protests has been sweeping across northern and eastern Syria.

Earlier on Thursday, dozens of people in the same Syrian province staged a demonstration in protest at the deployment of US-sponsored and Kurdish-led SDF militants and their arbitrary practices.

Locals protest in Abu Hamam town of Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr on December 17, 2020 against the arbitrary practices of the Kurdish-led and US-backed militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by SANA)

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources, reported that residents of Abu Hamam town in the Abu Kamal district blocked the main roads with burning tires, demanding the immediate release of all abducted locals and people from various areas of the Jazira region in the neighboring Hasakah province.

Security conditions are reportedly deteriorating in the areas controlled by the SDF in Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces amid ongoing raids and arrests of civilians by the US-sponsored militants.

Locals argue that the SDF’s constant raids and arrest campaigns have generated a state of frustration and instability, severely affecting their businesses and livelihoods.

Residents accuse the US-backed militants of stealing crude oil and failing to spend money on service sectors.

Local councils affiliated with the SDF have also been accused of financial corruption. They are said to be embezzling funds provided by donors, neglecting services and not meeting the people’s basic needs.

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