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Lebanese Hezbollah has deployed “medium-range rockets” near the United States-led coalition garrison in the southeastern Syrian area of al-Tanf, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on June 9.
Around 200 U.S. troops are usually deployed at al-Tanf. The coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around the garrison.
The London-based monitoring group said that the rockets and their launchers were transported by two trucks from positions of Hezbollah on the Syrian-Lebanese border to the area of al-Alyaniyah in the easter Homs countryside, which is located some 30 kilometers away from the border of the coalition’s 55-kilometer zone. They were later hidden in underground depots in the area.
No information on the exact type and range of the rockets deployed by Hezbollah near al-Tanf were provided by the monitoring group.
The claims came just a week after a report by The Washington Post revealed an alleged plan by Iran’s Quds Force, Hezbollah and the Syrian intelligence to launch attacks against U.S. troops in the country.
The report, which cited U.S. intelligence officials and leaked classified documents, detailed preparations to target American military vehicles in northeastern Syria with advanced explosive devices. It didn’t mention any plans to attack al-Tanf garrison, however.
The garrison was attacked by Iranian-abcked forces in Syria and nighboring Iraq with suicide drones and rockets on several occasions over the last few years. On other occasions, the Russian military group in the country launched airstrikes against U.S. proxies in the garrison.
Syria and its allies have been growing frustrated with U.S. military presence in al-Tanf. The coalition’s garrison blocks a strategic highway that links the country’s capital, Damascus, with Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
Last month, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, accused the U.S. of training ISIS terrorists in al-Tanf. The terrorist group’s cells are known to be active within the 55-kilometer zone.
The SOHR’s report has not been verified yet. Regardless of these claims, the situation around al-Tanf remains tense and a military confrontation could break out there in the near future.
