No personnel were injured when a helicopter with the U.S. led coalition fighting the Islamic State made an emergency landing in northern Syria, according to a U.S. official.
“A coalition helicopter conducted an emergency landing” in northern Syria, about 9:30 a.m. local time, Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve announced via a tweet Tuesday morning. “The incident was not the result of hostile activity and the helicopter landed safely. Emergency personnel responded to the incident and there were no injuries & crew recovered.”
Marotto did not immediately respond to a request for comment about who owned the aircraft, what type of helicopter it was, who the personnel on board were or any details about the rescue efforts.
U.S. Central Command officials referred to Marotto’s tweet when asked for comment.
Hundreds of U.S. troops are stationed in northeastern Syria, working with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to fight IS militants. The U.S. carries out patrols in the area and over the past months there has been friction with Russian troops and Syrian government forces.
This story contains information from the Associated Press.
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Howard Altman is an award-winning editor and reporter who was previously the military reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and before that the Tampa Tribune, where he covered USCENTCOM, USSOCOM and SOF writ large among many other topics.
