US airstrikes destroy ammunition left behind in Syria

The Associated Press

5 years ago

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella during a news conf ... — President Donald Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left, speaks with members of the media alongside Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, outside of the West Wing of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Washington, after meeting with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., walk from the microphones after speaking with reporters following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE – In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., takes questions from reporters at the Capitol in Washington. Congressional Republicans have spent most of the past two years studiously avoiding any public fights with President Donald Trump, either out of party loyalty or fear of being on the wrong end of a presidential tweetstorm. That public show of unity ended emphatically when Trump announced he would be withdrawing U.S. forces from northern Syria in advance of an impending Turkish military operation against Syrian Kurdish militia fighters. Graham, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas all joined Democratic colleagues in publicly criticizing the idea, with Graham even going on Fox News to label the decision “short-sighted and irresponsible.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. fighter jets launched airstrikes Wednesday to destroy ammunition that was left behind when American forces left a cement factory south of Kobani, Syria.

The factory had served as a coordination center for the U.S.-led coalition and Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State group.

U.S. Army Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the coalition, says the F-15E fighter jet strikes were pre-planned and destroyed ammunition stored at the Lafarge Cement Factory.

He says all coalition personnel and “essential tactical equipment” had left the base before the strike.

Most of the 1,000 U.S. forces in Syria are being withdrawn over the coming days and weeks because of the Turkish invasion into northern Syria and the attack on Kurdish forces.