WASHINGTON: US troops in northern Syria came under artillery fire from Turkish positions on Friday but none were wounded, the Pentagon said, an incident that highlights the risks to US troops as Turkey wages an offensive against US-allied Kurdish militia.
“The explosion occurred within a few hundred meters of a location outside the Security Mechanism zone and in an area known by the Turks to have US forces present,” Navy Captain Brook DeWalt, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement. DeWalt said that all US troops were accounted for after the incident near Kobane, Syria, late on Friday.
US troops have not withdrawn from Kobane, he said. A US official, speaking on the condition anonymity, said a small number of US troops had moved away from the outpost temporarily after the artillery fire, but are still in the general area and expect to be back.
Top Pentagon officials stressed the need for Turkey to avoid doing anything to endanger US forces inside Syria. Although US troops had no intention of firing on Turkey, a NATO ally, the Pentagon noted they had the right to defend themselves.
“Everyone is fully aware that we are the United States military. We retain the right of self-defence,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said. REUTERS