Watch Syrian Villagers and Troops Intercept & Turn Back Two US Convoys

Syrian villagers and army units regularly engage US forces and their Kurdish militia allies in deadly cat-and-mouse games in Syria’s northeast, intercepting convoys trying to move troops and materiel through areas loyal to Damascus. The tension-filled incidents are occasionally reported on by the media.

Syrian villagers and troops successfully blocked two US convoys from passing through areas of northeastern Syria on Thursday, local media have reported.

Sources told the Syrian Arab News Agency that the first incident took place in the village of Damkhiya in the Hasakah province countryside on Thursday afternoon, with residents from four villages gathering to intercept a convoy of five US armoured vehicles and one Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia vehicle as they tried to cross a local army checkpoint. The convoy was reportedly turned back and forced to retreat.

Villagers were said to have thrown stones at the vechiles and chanted slogans condemning the US and the SDF. Damkhiya residents were reinforced by residents of the nearby villages of Abu Dhail, Hamo and al-Qusayr, with Syrian army troops backing them up.

The second incident, which also took place Thursday, saw troops and civilians at the Syrian army checkpoint at al-Baylona near Hamo intercepting a convoy of four US armoured vehicles and one SDF militia car, forcing them to turn back and preventing them from reaching a major highway. According to SANA’s sources, villagers from Hamo and al-Qusayr gathered in the area and threw stones at the convoy.

SANA released amateur footage of the incidents, showing villagers and troops standing on the road near a Syrian army checkpoint as a convoy of US Mine Resistant Armoured Vehicles, or MRAPs, stands idle on in the background flying large American flags.

On Friday, local media reported on yet another incident, indicating that villagers in the village of Tal al-Dahab intercepted a convoy of several US armoured vehicles and one SDF vehicle near the village and forced them to retreat. That incident followed a separate incident in Tal al-Dahab on Wednesday, in which a convoy of five US armoured vehicles and several SDF militia trucks were halted as they attempted to pass through.

US forces and their Syrian Kurdish allies seized control over wide swathes of territory in Syria’s northeast, including up to 90 percent of the Arab Republic’s oil and gas producing regions, in 2017. Syrian President Bashar Assad and other officials have repeatedly demanded that US and all other foreign forces not explicitly invited to the country by Damascus evacuate the country immediately. The US has ignored these demands.

Efforts to block the passage of US convoys don’t always end peacefully. In August 2020, a firefight ensued between a heavily armed US convoy and lightly armed Syrian forces, leaving one Syrian soldier dead and two others injured. The Pentagon originally claimed that the Syrian army was responsible for the deadly incident. However, in September 2021, Task & Purpose magazine published excerpts from a redacted report revealing that a US Army platoon sergeant involved in the firefight was facing a court-martial for his alleged misconduct before and after the battle, including making unlawful threats against Syrian soldiers, violating orders, and attempting to hide evidence of malfeasance.