Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 263rd Air Defense Artillery, South Carolina National Guard, send a stinger missile downrange from the Humvee-mounted Avenger missile system at Range 91 near Oro Grande, N.M., Oct. 23, 2011. Source: US Army.
The US-led coalition wants to deploy air-defense systems at al-Tanf garrison in the southeastern region of Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on September 10.
“The international coalition is preparing to deploy anti-drone air-defense batteries at al-Tanf garrison amid threats from Iranian-backed militias,” the London-based monitoring group said in its report.
Some 200 US troops are usually deployed at al-Tanf. The coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around the garrison, which was established in 2016. The large garrison blocks a strategic highway between the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Earlier, the SOHR reported that the US-led coalition had placed its troops in al-Tanf on high-alert out of fear of a new attack by Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Iraq. Coalition warplanes were also spotted flying over the 55-kilometers zone.
A recent report by the New York Times said that Damascus and its allies, who are known as the “Axis of Resistance,” have agreed to respond to Israel’s repeated attacks on Syria by targeting US bases in the country, specifically al-Tanf.
Iranian-backed forces have already responded to and Israeli attack that targeted Tartus and Damascus on August 14 by targeting the US al-Tanf garrison with a number of suicide drones on the very next day. The drone attack led to a confrontation with the US-led coalition, who responded less than ten days later by striking positions of Iranian-backed forces in Deir Ezzor in the northeastern region.
The deployment of air-defense systems in al-Tanf garrison will further provoke Damascus and its allies, who may attempt to take these systems down.
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