US patrol returns fire after Syrian regime forces attack near Qamishlo

A patrol from the US-led Coalition against ISIS returned fire, after attempting to pass a regime checkpoint, leading to casualties among Syrian regime soldiers.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday morning, a patrol from the US-led Coalition against ISIS returned fire, after attempting to pass a regime checkpoint near the village of Tal Al-Zahab southeast of the city of Qamishlo, leading to casualties among Syrian regime soldiers.

“On Aug. 17 at appx. 9:20 a.m. (Syria Time), Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), conducting a routine anti-ISIS security patrol near Tal Al-Zahab, Syria, encountered a checkpoint occupied by pro-Syrian regime forces,” Col. Myles Caggins, Spokesman for the Coalition, told Kurdistan 24.

“After receiving safe passage from the pro-regime forces, the patrol came under small arms fire from individuals in the vicinity of the checkpoint,” he added. “Coalition troops returned fire in self-defense.”
Video footage published by the Kurdish Ronahi TV station which seemed to be filmed by SDF fighters accompanying the patrol, showed a skirmish between the US troops and regime soldiers.

 

According to the Syrian state news agency, SANA, one soldier was killed and two others were injured, after a Syrian army checkpoint southeast of Qamishlo prevented a US patrol from passing.

The agency claimed that the Coalition carried out an airstrike and attacked first. But the Coalition stressed that the US patrol was acting in self-defense, as regime forces fired first.

Moreover, Coalition sources deny that any airstrikes were carried out and affirm that no Coalition helicopters accompanied the patrol that was attacked by regime troops.

“The incident remains under investigation," Caggins stated.

After Turkey intervened in northeastern Syria in October 2019, the SDF was forced to reach a deal with Damascus, brokered by Russia, that resulted in the entry of Russian and Syrian forces into northern Syria.

According to a recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report, the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) estimates that between 4,000 and 10,000 Syrian regime forces have been deployed in northeastern Syria since the Turkish incursion.

Since then, there have been increased tensions between US patrols and regime checkpoints, as well as pro-regime villages, near the city of Qamishlo, although pro-regime forces were present near Qamishlo even before the Turkish incursion.

Read more: US forces return fire in north Syrian pro-Assad village; 1 militant killed

On February 12, a Coalition convoy came under fire in a pro-Damascus village outside Qamishlo in a standoff that eventually brought in Russian soldiers from a nearby base and led to the death of one Syrian combatant.

Editing by Laurie Mylroie