22 US Troops Injured In Helicopter Accident Over Syria
The Pentagon revealed late Monday that on Sunday a major helicopter accident resulted in a large group of US military personnel being injured in northeast Syria.
While US Central Command is downplaying it as an aviation "mishap", there were twenty-two US service members injured in the incident. Importantly, US Central command confirmed in a statement that "no enemy fire was reported."
Ten of the wounded had injuries serious enough to be evacuated to hospitals outside of the region, presumably in neighboring Iraq where US personnel have a precent in Irbil in the north.
The nearly two dozen personnel had "various degrees" of injuries, officials said. It's unclear whether the presumed crash involved one or more helicopters.
In April there had been a Department of Defense 24-hour stan-down of all aviation units after a string of deadly accidents, including two deadly mid-air helicopter collisions within a single month time frame.
"The safety of our aviators is our top priority, and this stand-down is an important step to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent accidents and protect our personnel," Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said at the time.
Sunday's incident over Syria is believed to be a mechanical failure or pilot error, according to some reports. Meanwhile, some are questioning what American troops are still doing in Syria in the first place...
28 Americans Wounded or Killed in Syria over last two months.
— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) June 13, 2023
What for? https://t.co/l3Wjwn96kt
At least 900 US troops (plus an unknown amount of State Dept personnel, contractors, and intelligence personnel) have occupied northeast Syria for years at this point. They control all of Syria's main oil and gas fields, which were vital for meeting the population's energy needs.
There have been recent reports of US soldiers and the Pentagon's Kurdish SDF proxies "looting" Syrian oil, driving it across the border into Iraq. Sporadic drone and rocket attacks on US bases in Syria have resulted in dead and wounded US personnel over the past year, a trend which recently increased.
