Posted On
Defense & Security Industry News - Syria
 
U.S. Marines are deployed in Syria with M777 155mm howitzers to support an assault of Raqqa.
According the website of The Washington Post, the U.S. Marines attached to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are deployed in Syria with M777 howitzers to establish an artillery base. Some few days ago, U.S. troops with Stryker 8x8 armoured vehicles were seen around the city of Manbij in the Aleppo Governorate, Syria.
     
According the website of The Washington Post, the U.S. Marines attached to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are deployed in Syria with M777 howitzers to establish an artillery base. Some few days ago, U.S. troops with Stryker 8x8 armoured vehicles were seen around the city of Manbij in the Aleppo Governorate, Syria.
Marines with 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, stand by their M777 Howitzer for a fire mission during Steel Knight 17 aboard Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., Dec. 2, 2016.
     
According to the Washington Post website, U.S. Marines from an amphibious task force have left their ships in the Middle East and deployed to Syria, establishing an outpost from which they can fire artillery guns in support of the fight to take back the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State, defense officials said.

The deployment of U.S troops on the ground in Syria marks a new strategy of U.S. government to fight the terrorist groups in the world and especially in Syria. About 500 U.S. Special forces troops are already operating inside Syria since several weeks.

The American troops are part of the part of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left San Diego on Navy ships in October. The Marines on the ground include part of an artillery battery that can fire powerful 155-millimeter shells from M777 Howitzers, according military officials.

The expeditionary unit’s ground force, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, will man the guns and deliver fire support for U.S.-backed local forces who are preparing an assault on the city of Raqqa, about 160 kilometres east of Aleppo. Additional infantrymen from the unit will provide security while resupplies will be handled by part of the expeditionary force’s combat logistics element. For this deployment, the Marines were flown from Dijibouti to Kuwait and then into Syria, said another defense official with direct knowledge of the operation.