A convoy of U.S. armored vehicles patrols the northeastern Syrian town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey     DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, December 6 (RHC)-- Three U.S. service members are being evaluated for possible traumatic brain injuries, the Pentagon has said.  This happened after rockets and mortars were fired in the direction of American soldiers in Syria on Tuesday, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday.

“As you know, those numbers can fluctuate.  I’m not aware of any other injuries at this time.  Again, we’ll not hesitate to take appropriate action and protect our forces if they are threatened,” Ryder said.  

The soldiers were attacked near Military Support Site Euphrates, a U.S.-occupied base in eastern Syria, the Associated Press reported.  Ryder declined to say whether the troops were on the base when they were injured.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military actions in the Middle East, said it is still assessing who was behind the attack.  However, Ryder told reporters Monday that there was a rocket attack against “one of our facilities in Syria,” claiming no US personnel were injured and no infrastructure damage was done.

There are about 2,500 American troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of, what Washington claims to be, a fighting force against Daesh. An undisclosed number of US contractors are also operating in Syria.

The U.S. has maintained its presence, although, the Arab countries and their allies defeated the Takfiri terrorist group in late 2017.  

In 2020, the Iraqi parliament voted for the expulsion of US forces.

Earlier this week, members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – a former al-Qaeda affiliate –  were reported to have overrun many government-controlled areas and killed dozens of soldiers in northern Syria.

In response, the Syrian army’s anti-terror operations have killed at least 2,000 terrorists since last week.

The Syrian army pledged to continue its operations to repel attacks by foreign-backed terrorists in the northwestern parts of the country.  “The U.S. has no role in what’s happening right now in terms of northwestern Syria and HTS,” Ryder reiterated Thursday.