Attack on US Military Convoy in Syria Causes ‘Huge Damage’ to Equipment, Report Says

Damascus has repeatedly underscored that the presence of US troops in Syria is illegal because they were never invited for deployment and that the US does not have a relevant mandate from the UN Security Council.

A US military convoy has been targeted in north-eastern Syria’s Hasaka Governorate in an attack that caused “huge damage” to American vehicles, the Syrian news agency SANA reported unnamed “local sources” as saying on Tuesday.

According to the news outlet, two explosive devices went off as a US convoy of military vehicles was on its way through Hasaka’s eastern al-Yarubiya area earlier in the day. There was no word on who claimed responsibility for the attack.

This comes about a week after SANA claimed that the US had sent more than one hundred military vehicles laden with “logistics material” from Iraqi territory towards Hasaka.

The first convoy purportedly included around 60 vehicles, while the second one had approximately 40. The convoys entered Syrian territory from Iraq via the al-Waleed crossing, moving under the protection of several armoured vehicles, according to SANA.

US troops were deployed to Syria under the pretext of fighting Daesh*, but have not completely withdrawn despite declaring the terrorist organisation defeated.

Washington also lacks a UN Security Council mandate or an invitation from the Syrian government to justify the deployment of US forces in the Arab Republic.

Damascus and Moscow have repeatedly objected to the continuing stay of American troops in Syria, describing it as illegitimate.

Washington, in turn, has argued that US forces have stayed behind to prevent the local oil resources from ending up in the hands of terrorists. However, the Syrian government insists they are, in fact, engaged in theft of the nation's oil resources.

*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State), a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries