Syrian civilians block US military convoys seeking to enter two villages in Hasakah

The residents of two small villages in the northern countryside of Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah have blocked US military convoys attempting to pass through their areas, forcing them to return to their bases.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that the US convoys were confronted by local residents in the villages of al-Qahirah and al-Dushaisha, who chanted slogans against the forces and threw stones at them.

SANA added that the convoys were forced to “go back to where they came from.” No one was hurt in the confrontations, according to the report.

Since late October 2019, the United States 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.

Syria vows fight against ‘American, Turkish, Israeli occupiers’

Syria’s UN ambassador tells the Security Council that any foreign military presence in the Arab country without Damascus’ consent amounts to ‘occupation and aggression.’

The Pentagon claims the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by Daesh. That claim came although Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.

Syria, which has not authorized the presence of the US military in its territory, says Washington is “plundering” the country’s oil.

The presence of US forces in eastern Syria has particularly irked the civilians, and local residents have on several occasions stopped American military convoys entering the region.  

Blaze scorches wheat, barley crops near Abu Rasin town

Separately, tens of tons of wheat and barley southwest of Abu Rasin town in Hasakah province have been scorched during the harvest season.

Local sources, requesting not to be named, blamed the blazes on foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists operating in the area close to Turkish-backed militants.

Some farmers, on the other hand, said the crop fires were the work of US-sponsored and Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under the pretext of clearing mines planted by Turkish-backed militants.

Turkish forces, allied militants intend to steal wheat crops in Syria’s Hasakah: SANA

Turkish forces and their allied militants are reportedly planning to steal wheat crops in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah.

Turkish-backed militants were deployed to northern Syria last October after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants away from border areas.

Ankara views the US-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.

On October 22 last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed a memorandum of understanding that asserted the YPG militants had to withdraw from the Turkish-controlled "safe zone" in northeastern Syria within 150 hours, after which Ankara and Moscow would run joint patrols around the area.

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