US carries out airstrike in Syria to destroy ammunition as troops depart

The United States carried out a pre-planned air strike in northern Syria on Wednesday to destroy an ammunition cache and military equipment that were left behind as US personnel prepare for a withdrawal from northeast Syria, US officials said.

Colonel Myles Caggins, an Iraq-based spokesman for the US-led coalition battling ISIS, said the strike involved two F-15e fighter jets from the US-led coalition, which fired on the Lafarge Cement Factory after all coalition forces had left the facility.

Earlier on Wednesday, the US-led coalition said that its forces had left the Syrian cities of Tabqah and Raqqa as well as a Lafarge cement factory as part of the withdrawal from northeast Syria.

“Coalition forces continue a deliberate withdrawal from northeast Syria. On Oct. 16, we vacated the Lafarge Cement Factory, Raqqa, and Tabqah,” coalition spokesman Colonel Myles B. Caggins said on Twitter.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Syrian army has taken control of military bases in northeast Syria that were abandoned by US forces, according to a report by Russian state TV.