DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Russian forces in Syria have protested over what Moscow described as “provocative actions” by United States forces also deployed in the country, Russia’s state news agency TASS has reported.
TASS cited a senior Russian military official saying that “provocative” incidents had occurred in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah where U.S. troops have been deployed for several years, leading a coalition of local Kurdish troops.
“Provocative actions on the part of U.S. armed forces units have been noted in Hasakah province … the Russian side lodged a protest with the coalition,” Russian Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Centre for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, told TASS.
Gurnivo said U.S. troops had twice been spotted by Russian forces in areas that lay outside their agreed zones of operation, without giving details of timing.
“During joint Russian-Turkish patrols, the movement of two patrols conducted by the so-called anti-terrorist coalition were tracked along the non-deconfliction routes near Deiruna-Aga and Saramsak. The Russian side has protested to the coalition,” Gurinov said, according to TASS.
Russia – which together with Turkey is carrying out joint patrols in northern Syria – has agreed on special zones where the U.S.-led coalition can operate.
Gurinov further stressed that the violation of the de-confliction agreements by the coalition jeopardizes the fragile balance of power in the region, adding that it will also have a negative impact on the development of the situation.
The U.S. military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in 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, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources. Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil.
The U.S. and its allies invaded Syria in 2014 under the pretext of fighting Daesh. The terrorist group had emerged as Washington was running out of excuses to extend its regional meddling or enlarge it in scale.
In another development, the Zionist regime has carried out a fresh missile strike against Syria, targeting positions at several locations across the country’s central Homs province.
According to a Syrian military source, the new attack hit targets both in the capital city of Homs and elsewhere on its suburbs early Sunday.