Two US Soldiers Injured in Attack in Northeastern Syria - Coalition Forces

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Two US soldiers were injured as a result of a fire attack on coalition forces in northeastern Syria, the Joint Special Operations Task Force - Levant said on Thursday.

"This morning, an indirect fire attack targeted Coalition forces at Green Village in northeast Syria. The attack injured two US service members. One was treated and released, while the other is under evaluation for traumatic brain injury. This incident is under investigation," the joint task force tweeted.

The armed conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011, with Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces fighting different insurgent groups. In late 2017, Daesh* was declared defeated in Syria and Iraq, but counterterrorism operations are still underway.

Washington backs the Kurdish armed groups located in the country despite protests from the Syrian government. The US military currently controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, and Deir Ez-Zor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located.

Damascus does not recognize the so-called autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria, and calls the presence of the US military on its territory an occupation and state piracy with the aim of outright theft of oil.

* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.