US deploys Patriot air defence system in Syria, claims Syrian state...

Damascus: The US Patriot air defence system has been deployed in Eastern Syria. The US has transferred the missile-defence batteries for securing the oil fields under the control of Syrian Kurds. The Syrian state-owned news agency has claimed that a few more of the batteries would be deployed in the country in the next few days. The US, however, has denied the reports stating the Patriot air defence system was not in Syria.

The Syrian state-owned news agency has asserted that three batteries of the Patriot air defence system were unloaded in Eastern Syria’s Deir ez-Zor. The US has made deployment in the vicinity of the Kuniko oil plant. The Syrian Kurdish militia called the People’s Protection Units (YPG), wrest control over the Kuniko oil plant, which is one of the largest in Syria, and the US has mobilized the Patriot system to provide support to the group, reported the news agency. The agency went on to claim that the Patriot was the first deployment and soon there would be an addition of three more systems on the Kurdish oil bases in the region.

The US rejected the claims made in the Syrian and Iranian news reports. No air defence system has been sent to Syria, U.S.-led coalition spokesperson in Syria, Army Colonel Myles B. Caggins III stated. Army Colonel Caggins alleged that false news about the US Army was being circulated in Syria, and this report was one of them. Also, the Iranian and Syrian news agencies had previously made claims that the US was moving its arms arsenal from Iraq to Syria, the Army Colonel reminded.

Meanwhile, the happenings in Syria are rapidly evolving. In a recent attack at the borders of the two provinces of Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, three US soldiers and five Syrian Kurds were reported of being injured. The US and Kurdish forces were jointly on patrol in the region, when a bomb was hurled at their vehicle. The soldiers that were wounded in the attack were taken to the US military base in al-Shaddadi, Al-Hasakah. Although no one has claimed responsibility, the pro-Turkish groups are believed to be behind the attack. At the same time, the US and Russia, have reportedly begun joint patrols near the Turkish borders.