WEB DESK /
The Pentagon will deploy long-range mobile artillery systems to Turkey to challenge Daesh’s rockets launched into that country’s southern cities, a U.S. general said Tuesday, reports Turkishg news agency Anadolu.
“I will tell you that is a recent development that we have been working on and we are looking at how it’s going to be installed and, we’re working very closely with our strong partners in Turkey to find out exactly how it’s going to operate,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, deputy commander for the anti-Daesh coalition, said during a video conference from Baghdad.
Gersten said the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to be deployed would be at a “brigade-level,” referring to the level of a commanding authority for a group of troops and equipment.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who first announced the HIMARS deployment on Monday, said the systems will be deployed in May and that NATO allies hope to assist moderate Syrian opposition groups on the ground in using the equipment.
According to Turkish authorities, 45 rocket rounds have landed in the southern Turkish city of Kilis since January and has killed 16 victims and wounded 62 others. On Sunday, five rockets hit Kilis killing one person and injuring 26, Turkish officials said.
The U.S. also has HIMARS in Jordan and in the Iraqi province of Anbar as well as the Tigris River valley.