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Shiite militias launch missile attack on US base near Conoco gas field in Syria — TV

The channel reported that US Air Force helicopters were up in the skies, patrolling the area in search of the attackers

© AP Photo/Darko Bandic

BEIRUT, March 25. /TASS/. Pro-Iranian Shiite fighters fired at least nine rockets at a US military base near the Conoco gas field in Syria's Deir Ez-Zor governorate, the Al Hadath TV channel broadcasting from Dubai reported.

According to its information, an earlier missile strike was launched against a military base near the Al-Omar oil field. There was no information about the consequences of the two attacks and possible casualties.

The channel reported that US Air Force helicopters were up in the skies, patrolling the area in search of the attackers.

On Thursday night, the US Air Force attacked pro-Iranian forces' positions in Abu Kamal on the border with Iraq, as well as their camp in Mayadin and weapons storage facility near Harabish by Deir Ez-Zor. The series of strikes were conducted in retailation to an Iranian drone attack on a helipad at the US base in Rumaila, which killed one US servicemen and injured five others, along with another worker.

Since 2015, the US has established nine military bases in the northeast of the country, controlled by Kurdish units from the Syrian Democratic Forces. Four of them are near the oil fields in Deir Ez-Zor, and five more are in the neighboring province of Al-Hasakah. Several hundred US servicemen are assisting the Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia - TASS) terrorist gangs that have activated their activities there.

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