US military says American troops in Syria at risk from Turkish air strikes
“We have received additional information that there was a risk to US Troops and personnel,” US Central Command said in a short statement on Wednesday. No US service members were injured in the strike, CENTCOM said.
They declined to provide any further information on how many troops were put at risk or where they were located in relation to the attack.
UK based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Tuesday that a Turkish drone carried out an attack north of Al-Hasakah on a base of the US-led International Coalition, which also houses counter-terrorism units of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)
In the initial statement about the strike on Tuesday, CENTCOM spokesman Col. Joe Buccino said US troops were not at the base. “We oppose any military action that destabilizes the situation in Syria. These actions threaten our shared goals, including the continued fight against ISIS to ensure the group can never resurge and threaten the region,” Buccino said.
On Wednesday, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Yasar Guler. The readout did not offer details of the conversation, but it said that the two spoke about “several items of mutual strategic interest.”