‘U.S. Troops Back to Military Bases in Northeast Syria’

Date: 03 November 2019 - 21:15

News ID: ۷۲۳۱۳

ANKARA (Dispatches) – American troops are reportedly going back to military bases in northeastern Syria which were evacuated by the U.S. Army during Turkey's incursion into Syria.
According to Anadolu Agency, the U.S. Army troops have arrived back in the west of Syria’s northern province of Raqqah to rebuild its military base, which was evacuated during the operation.
A military convoy, including a personnel carrier armored vehicle, a mine flail and a utility vehicle, dispatched by the U.S., arrived in Jazira base located west of Raqqah province via the northeastern Syrian province of Al-Hasakah. Nearly 30 U.S. troops were also seen in the convoy heading to Jazira base.
Also, the U.S. troops were positioned on a military base in northern Syria’s Sarrin village in the south of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobani.
The U.S. military bases in Sarrin and Sabit villages around 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the Turkey-Syria border was previously evacuated and destroyed during Turkey's incursion.
Turkey launched the offensive on October 9 in a declared attempt to push the People's Protection Units (YPG) militants away from border areas.
Ankara views the U.S.-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Turkey’s offensive came after the U.S. abruptly pulled its forces out of the region, clearing the path for Turkey to go ahead with the planned military action against Washington’s longtime Kurdish allies.
Washington reversed an earlier decision to pull out all troops from northeastern Syria, announcing last week the deployment of about 500 troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces.

A Syrian boy on his bicycle looks at a convoy of US armored vehicles patrolling fields near the northeastern town of Qahtaniyah at the border with Turkey, on October 31, 2019.