Islamic State Targets U.S. in Syria for Second Time in Days
Islamic State Targets U.S. in Syria for Second Time in Days
(Bloomberg) -- Islamic State suicide bombers targeted a joint convoy of U.S. troops and their Kurdish partners in Syria on Monday, in the second attack on American forces in less than a week.
The U.S. military said there were no American casualties. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said five Kurdish fighters were killed in the attack in the southern suburbs of Hasakah.
On Wednesday, four Americans were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern town of Manbij that was the deadliest attack against U.S. forces in Syria. The attacks demonstrate that Islamic State remains a danger in Syria even though U.S. President Donald Trump claimed victory over the group last month and announced that American troops would be pulled out soon.
Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria has faced serious pushback at home, and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis. There has also been some confusion over the timetable. In Ankara over the weekend, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a prominent Trump ally critical of the withdrawal plan, said the U.S. should slow down its planned exit to make sure regional rival Iran doesn’t emerge as the biggest winner.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Khraiche in Beirut at dkhraiche@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams
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