HASAKAH (Dispatches) – Amid smoldering public resentment over the presence of American occupation troops in northeastern Syria, scores of people have blocked a U.S. military convoy that was attempting to pass through their community in the province of Hasakah.
According to a report published by Syria’s official news agency SANA, the convoy of six military vehicles was forced to turn around and head back in the directions it came from after locals, supported by government forces, intercepted it in the village of Tell Dahab. The villagers threw stones at the convoy.
SANA added that the convoy was accompanied by a car belonging to U.S.-sponsored and Kurdish-led militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
On January 15, a U.S. military convoy was forced to retreat from an area near the village of Salhiyeh Harb, close to Qamishli city, after Syrian government forces and groups of local residents, upset with their presence in the region, blocked its way, and prevented the passage of U.S. armored vehicles.
Syrian army soldiers had also forced a U.S. military convoy to retreat from the passing through Tell Tamer town a week earlier.
The U.S. military has stationed forces and equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus, however, says the unlawful deployment is meant to plunder the country’s resources.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in Syria for its oil.
After failing to oust the Syrian government with the help of its proxies and direct involvement in the conflict, the U.S. government has now stepped up its economic war on the Arab country.
In another development, one soldier was killed and 11 others wounded Tuesday when an explosion blew up a military bus in Syria’s capital of Damascus, reported the state news agency SANA.
The explosive device, which was previously attached to the bus, ripped through the vehicle near the Jamarek roundabout in Damascus, said SANA.
The incident took place a day after another military bus was targeted by an explosive device in the Homs province in central Syria.
Those responsible for the attacks are unknown yet, according to local media.