Washington (CNN) Two US Air Force F-15 jets conducted an airstrike targeting an American munitions storage bunker at a US base in Syria Wednesday in order to prevent the munitions and other equipment from falling into the hands of armed groups, two US defense officials told CNN.

"On Oct. 16, after all Coalition personnel and essential tactical equipment departed, two Coalition F-15Es successfully conducted a pre-planned precision airstrike at the Lafarge Cement Factory to destroy an ammunition cache, and reduce the facility's military usefulness," US Army Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the US-led military coalition fighting ISIS, confirmed in a statement Wednesday.

A US defense official told CNN that no other forces were nearby at the time. Had they been, it's possible the decision to bomb the munitions might have been aborted because it might have been perceived as an attack on whatever forces were nearby.

This is the first known instance where the US has had to destroy equipment as it conducts a rapid pullout from northern Syria, following President Donald Trump's withdrawal order which was announced Sunday in the face of an expanding Turkish military offensive targeting America's one-time allies in the fight against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds.

The strike took place at the US military compound at the Lafarge Cement Factory, which is located between Kobanî and Ain Issa and is close to the Turkish border. The compound served as "the headquarters of the de facto Defeat-ISIS coalition in Syria" prior to its being vacated.

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