The United States has reportedly deployed new military reinforcements to Syria’s oil-rich northeastern province of Hasakah, irrespective of the Damascus government’s vehement opposition to the presence of American troops on the Arab state’s soil.
Local sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA that two convoys, each carrying military equipment and logistics, arrived in Syria from Iraq early on Tuesday, and headed towards the southern countryside of the province.
The sources said the first convoy, comprised of six Humvees, five container trucks and five tanker trucks, crossed the al-Walid border crossing point between Iraq and Syria, and moved towards Kharab al-Jeer Airport near the small northeastern Syrian city of al-Malikiyah.
Another convoy was seen on a road close to the village of Tal Barak, located 40 kilometres from the city of Hasakah, and heading towards US bases in al-Shaddadi town.
‘US military vehicle attacked by machine guns, completely burnt’
Separately on Tuesday, the Lebanon-based and Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper, citing unnamed field sources, reported that unknown gunmen had attacked a US military vehicle in Syria’s northeastern province of Dayr al-Zawr with medium machine guns and mortar shells, destroying the car almost completely.
The sources added that search teams found no bodies or traces of the two soldiers aboard the vehicle, identifying the pair as Sergeant Brandon as well as Conscript Michael and servicemen for the US Navy.
On Monday, SANA, citing local sources requesting anonymity, reported that assailants had attacked a US Hummer military car as it was traveling from the al-Omar oil field, which lies in the northeastern countryside of Dayr al-Zawr province, to the al-Tanak field.
The sources added that the vehicle was later found burnt and abandoned by the side of a road, noting that the fate of the two US troopers aboard remains unknown.
The US-led coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has dismissed the report of the attack on US soldiers in Syria.
Since late October 2019, the US has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the Arab country.
The Pentagon claims the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by the Daesh terrorist group. That claim came despite Trump's earlier suggestion that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.
Late last year, the Syrian presidency’s political and media adviser said Damascus was considering the possibility of filing an international lawsuit against the United States over stealing the country’s national wealth.
Buthaina Shaaban accused the US of “plundering Syrian oil” in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television news network at the time, condemning the move.