On June 13, CNN reported that the United States has deployed the M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from Jordan to a U.S.-Coalition training base at Al-Tanf in southern Syria. There are conflicting reports from defense officials about whether the HIMARS deployment is in response to the deployment of pro-regime artillery in the area. The deployment will bolster the coalition forces’ ability to defend coalition outposts near the Al-Tarif “de-confliction zone”– an area created in an agreement between the United States and Russia to avoid military accidents. The system has previously been deployed to Turkey and Jordan in spring of last year to strike ISIS targets in Syria.

The HIMARS is a truck-mounted rocket artillery system first unveiled in 1993. It is capable of launching multiple 227mm rockets up to 32 km, or a single ATACMS short-range ballistic missile up to 300 km.