Military officials reported a helicopter accident in northeastern Syria on Sunday was being investigated after injuring 22 U.S. troops.
A statement from the U.S. military released on June 13 explained that the “mishap” resulted in various degrees of injuries, with 10 service members requiring medical transport to “higher care facilities,” according to AP News.
While the accident on June 11 is not believed to have been caused by enemy fire, skirmishes between U.S. troops and Iran-backed militants like the Islamic State have occurred over the past years.
For instance, as The Dallas Express reported, an apparent kamikaze drone attack on a military base belonging to the U.S. and the Kurdish-Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria killed a U.S. contractor in late March. In response, U.S. fighter jets targeted several locations around the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, bordering Iraq.
U.S. forces continue to launch strikes against IS and other militant groups despite the extremist group’s territorial defeat by the Kurdish and Arab coalition backed by U.S., British, and French special forces in March 2019.
As The Dallas Express reported in April, a targeted U.S.-led strike allegedly killed a senior member of IS in northwestern Syria.
The safety of the estimated 900 U.S. service members currently stationed in Syria thus cannot be entirely guaranteed in this high-risk environment.
One day prior to the accident, Syrian Kurdish-led authorities released a statement asking the United Nations and other international human rights organizations to help them establish an international tribunal to try imprisoned IS fighters hailing from foreign countries, according to AP News.
There are about 2,000 IS prisoners representing approximately 60 different home countries whose authorities refused Syria’s request for repatriation, according to AP News.
These and approximately 8,000 more IS fighters are currently held in detention centers across the country. Meanwhile their family members — roughly 51,000 people — are kept and monitored by law enforcement in the al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria. Many are said to still be IS supporters, according to AP News.
