US relocates long-range rocket system from Jordan to Syria

The US army has relocated a new truck-mounted, long-range missile launcher from Jordan to a base in Syria’s al-Tanf, says an intelligence source.

Reuters quoted the source as saying on Wednesday that the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) have been deployed at the base located close to the borders with Iraq and Jordan.

“They have arrived now in al-Tanf and they are a significant boost to the US military presence there,” said the senior intelligence official. He added that HIMARS is also deployed in northern Syria where US-backed forces are engaged in operations aimed at liberating Raqqah – Daesh’s last stronghold in the war-torn country.

The missile system’s deployment at al-Tanf will give US forces the ability to strike targets within its 300-kilometer range.

Last week, US-led warplanes attacked a Syrian military position on the road to al-Tanf, killing a number of people and causing some material damage.

The US claims the air raid was carried out after Syrian forces “advanced inside the well-established deconfliction zone in southern Syria,” where they posed a threat to “partner forces” based in al-Tanf.

Read More:

• Russia: US deconfliction zones in Syria illegal
• US-led coalition hits Syrian forces in south
• Russia, Syria censure US airstrike in Homs Province

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The US-led coalition has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Different foreign-backed terrorist groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria since 2011.