US patrol ‘intercepted’ at Syrian government checkpoint in Hasakah province: SOHR

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A US military patrol in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah was “intercepted” at a Syrian government checkpoint and forced to change its route, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Saturday. 

According to SOHR activists, the patrol consisted of five vehicles and was patrolling the village of Tel Al-Zahab in the southern countryside of Qamishli. 

The war monitor noted that this was the fourth such incident in March alone. 

On Mar. 18, another US patrol was prevented from moving in Rohiya village by Syrian government supporters. 

A day earlier, government supporters also blocked a US patrol in Tel Al-Zahab village, forcing it to change its route. 

Furthermore, on Mar. 6, soldiers at a government checkpoint blocked four US vehicles in Tal Ahmad village. 

None of these incidents resulted in clashes but did serve to demonstrate how the Syrian government is reasserting its presence in the country’s northeast.