22 US troops injured in helicopter ‘accident’ in Syria

Twenty-two American soldiers were injured in a helicopter crash in northeastern Syria, the military said on Monday. It said it was investigating the cause of the incident, calling it an “accident”, adding that no enemy fire had been reported.

The troops suffered “injuries of varying degrees,” the army’s Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said in a brief statement posted to Twitter. Ten of them have been evacuated to hospitals outside the region for treatment, the statement said, which said the accident had occurred on Sunday. Central Command officials did not immediately provide additional information.

Hundreds of US troops and contractors are stationed in Syria. The troops are working with Kurdish fighters to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State militant group, which was ostensibly defeated as a self-proclaimed caliphate in 2019 after five years of devastation in Iraq and Syria.

In March, a US contractor was killed and six other Americans injured when Iranian-backed militias launched a volley of missiles and drone strikes against coalition bases.

Eric Schmitt reporting contributed.