A U.S. M142 HIMARS systme firing during the coalition’s rehearsal in Syria’s Deir Ezzor. U.S. Army photo.
The United States has deployed additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) in Syria, the Mehr News Agency reported on July 18, citing Syrian media sources.
The Iranian news agency said that the systems were deployed in the country’s northeastern region, where the U.S. maintains a number of bases at key oil and gas fields. The agency didn’t reveal the number of the systems or where exactly they were positioned.
The HIMARS system can launch ER-MLRS unguided rockets with a range of 45 kilometers, GMLRS precision-guided rockets with a range of 70 kilometers and the MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missile that has a range of up to 300 kilometers.
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Several HIMARS launchers were spotted in the past at the coalition’s al-Tanf garrison, which is located in Syria’s southeastern region.
In October, the U.S.-led coalition announced that its forces in Syria had conducted an operational rehearsal with HIMARS launchers. However, it didn’t specify at the time where exactly the drill was held. Later in May, the Anadolu Agency reported that additional HIMARS launchers were deployed at coalition bases in al-Omar oil fields and Conoco gas facility in Deir Ezzor.
The U.S. says that it keeps some 900 troops in Syria to counter ISIS. However, Damascus does not approve of this presence and consider it to be an occupation.
The reports about the deployment of additional HIMARS systems came amid high tensions between the U.S. and Damascus’ main allies, Russia and Iran. The coalition has been harassing Russian fighter jets over the country and amassing its proxies near Iranian-backed forces in the northeastern region for the last few weeks.
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