US military convoy was attacked in Syria by a series of blasts
A convoy of US military armored vehicles in Syria was attacked on Tuesday [December 7th] in the Syrian province of Al Hasakah. BulgarianMilitary.com learned the information from its field sources, and later the Russian news agency TASS and the Syrian state news agency SANA also confirmed the news.
According to our source, a series of two consecutive explosions of explosive devices exploded in the area of Al-Yarubia near the border with Iraq. The media reported that there was serious damage to American vehicles, but there is no official information about the victims.
Local sources claim that the Kurdish Alliance for Democratic Syria [SDF] has announced increased combat readiness as a result of the attack on US troops in the area.
The SDF currently controls a large part of the provinces of Al Hasakah, Deir Ez-Zor, and Raqqa, which are located in the northeast of Syria. It is in this area that nine US military bases have been established, the first of which was established in 2015.
Four of them are located near the oil fields in Deir Ez-Zor, five – in Hasek. In late 2019, then-US President Donald Trump approved a plan to keep several hundred US troops in Syria, one of whose main tasks will be to ensure control of oil fields in the northeast and east of the country. Damascus sees the US military presence as an occupation.
The civil war in Syria
The Syrian civil war has been going on for almost a decade. Attempts by movements such as the Syrian Democratic Forces to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have failed.
The Syrian democratic forces are armed by allies and the United States, while the Syrian army is armed mainly by Russia. Russia is the only country officially invited to Syria by President Bashar al-Assad.
In 2017, the United States launched a massive missile strike on Bashar al-Assad’s forces after a report emerged that the Syrian president had used chemical weapons to attack his people in the country. Syria and Russia deny such actions.
During his tenure, US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw much of US troops from Syria, leaving several troops to guard Syria’s oil fields on the pretext of “falling into the hands of Islamic State.”
With the withdrawal of the United States, Turkey comes to the fore, declaring it necessary to deal with the Kurds and the PKK movement in the northern part of the country, which borders Turkey. That is why Erdogan is sending troops in an attempt to build a stable and secure 30km zone between Syria and Turkey, which will prevent future terrorist attacks on Turkish territory, as it is.
Ceasefire
In February 2020, Turkey lost at least 62 troops killed in Syria. Nearly 100 soldiers were wounded, Syrian-backed forces destroyed dozens of Turkish armored vehicles, and more than ten drones, including drones, were shot down. Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of involvement in the deaths of Turkish soldiers, Russia rejects these allegations.
In early March 2020, the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, agreed that a ceasefire came into force in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later said that if the US and Turkish military did not leave the country, Damascus would use military power.
The reason for the Russian-Turkish negotiations was a sharp aggravation of the situation in Idlib, where in January, a large-scale offensive by the Syrian army against the positions of the armed opposition and terrorists began.
Government forces recaptured nearly half of the Idlib de-escalation zone and left behind several Turkish observation posts. After that, Ankara sharply increased its military contingent in the region and launched the operation “Spring Shield” to push the Syrian troops. Militants are loyal to Ankara and support Turkey.
