“Last night: U.S. HIMARS in place and in action. The latest step in U.S.-Turkey cooperation in the fight against #ISIL,” read a tweet from the US embassy in Turkey on Saturday.
Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama’s special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, retweeted the Embassy’s tweet, adding that the rockets had successfully hit their targets.
“U.S. forces struck ISIL targets near Turkey’s border in Syria last night via newly deployed HIMARS systems,” the presidential envoy tweeted.
U.S. forces struck #ISIL targets near #Turkey's border in #Syria last night via newly deployed HIMARS system. https://t.co/qQeQ35aicp #ISIS
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) September 3, 2016
HIMARS is an acronym for High Mobility Rocket Systems. The US had long planned to station those systems near the Turkish border to support Ankara in its efforts to force ISIS from the Syria border and prevent the militants from launching rocket projectiles into Turkish territory.
The American rockets can strike targets 90 kilometres away, over twice the 40 kilometre range of Turkish artillery guns on the border.
It is not clear when these launchers were deployed. The US initially said they would deploy them in May, but deployment was delayed until mid-August.
Turkey intervened in northwestern Syria on August 24 against both Islamic State (ISIS) and Kurdish-led forces situated on the western side of the Euphrates River.
