U.S. troops stationed in Syrian gas refinery under mortar fire attack

Damascus, July 11 (RHC)-- A powerful explosion has rocked the gas refinery that U.S. forces are using as a military base in the east of the Syrian province of Dayr al-Zawr.  According to a war monitor, the blast was caused by a mortar shell landed in the Conoco gas field, where American troops are stationed.

A U.S. military official, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the incident left no casualties or damage.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

American troops have recently been targeted in Syria following last month’s US airstrikes against resistance groups on the Iraqi-Syrian border.  Earlier in the week, the United States’ biggest military base in Syria’s al-Omar Oilfield was hit by a number of “massive” explosions.

Over the past years, the US has been maintaining an illegal military presence on Syrian soil, collaborating with anti-Damascus militants and stealing the country’s crude oil resources.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States should end its plunder of Syria
Washington led scores of its allies as part of the coalition into the Arab country and neighboring Iraq in 2014 under the pretext of fighting the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh.

Various reports and regional officials, however, provided evidence of the coalition’s role in relocating Daesh’s elements about in both the countries.

In Syria, the United States has been trying to keep a tight control over certain strategic areas, including the eastern oilfield, where it is engaged in large-scale theft of the country’s crude.

The Iraqi parliament and Damascus have both ruled the US-led coalition’s operation in the countries as illegal.