Syria: 22 US soldiers injured in a helicopter mishap, confirms CENTCOM | Oneindia News

Syria: 22 US soldiers injured in a helicopter mishap, confirms CENTCOM | Oneindia News

Twenty-two U.S. service members were injured yesterday in northeastern Syria in a "mishap" involving a helicopter, military officials have said.

"The cause of the incident is under investigation, although no enemy fire was reported," U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The service members had "various degrees" of injuries, officials said.

Ten were evacuated to health care facilities outside the region, the statement said.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the accident on Sunday in northeast Syria, US Central Command said in a statement.US forces operating in Syria since 2015 have come under sporadic attacks from ISIL (ISIS) fighters and Iranian-backed groups operating in the country.

There are about 900 US personnel deployed to Syria, most of them in the east, as part of a mission fighting the remnants of Islamic State.

In March, 25 US troops were wounded in strikes and counter-strikes in Syria, which also killed one American contractor and injured another.

US forces were first deployed in Syria during the Obama administration’s campaign against IS, partnering with the Kurdish-led SDF.While IS is a shadow of the group that ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in desolate areas where neither the US-led coalition nor the Syrian army, with support from Russia and Iranian-backed militias, exert full control.

Thousands of other IS fighters are in detention facilities guarded by the SDF, the US’s key ally in the country.

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