“Russian troops have damaged our disarmament in Syria and wounded U.S. counterparts with their deliberately provocative and aggressive behavior,” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, the defense’s first public remarks on Tuesday’s incident.
“We have advised the Russians that their behavior was dangerous and unacceptable. We expect a return to routine and professional deconstruction in Syria and reserve the right to vigorously defend our forces if their security is endangered,” he added.
The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on Thursday blaming the U.S. military for the incident, saying the incident was the subject of a phone call Wednesday between Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and his opponent, Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov.
The Russian statement said the US was aware of the movements of the Russian convoy and that the clash took place after US troops tried to block the Russian patrol.
However, the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations, insisted that the US military had not been notified in advance of Russian troop movements.
“The Russians did not use established deconflict measures to request the passage of a Russian convoy through the Eastern Syria Security Area (ESSA) at Dayrick on August 25,” a Central Command spokesman said. William Urban in a statement.
He said the “Russian convoy opposed a joint US-SDF patrol after its unauthorized invasion” and “proceeded with the aggressive and reckless pursuit of the coalition convoy containing a side-sweep of an American car and the extremely low surface by a Russian helicopter, which resulted in seven U.S. soldiers receiving injuries that were evaluated and treated after the coalition convoy returned to base. “
The military said all seven U.S. servicemen were screened and treated for injuries returning to duty.
“Injuries include minor injuries, and muscle strains that are consistent with car crashes,” Urban said, adding that “there is no expectation that all U.S. soldiers should be medically evacuated from Syria at this time.”
U.S. military personnel in Syria have often been found to be operating in close proximity to Russian troops supporting the Syrian regime, but this is believed to be the first time U.S. troops have been wounded in a clash with Russian troops.
While U.S.-led coalition officials have publicly described these interactions as largely professional, indicating the existence of deconfiguration mechanisms with Russia, the number of encounters has increased as Russian troops move to areas that ‘ t were ousted by the US and its local Syrian allies following the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw forces from the Syrian-Turkish border.
Moscow has long protested the presence of US troops in Syria, where it is working primarily with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces to fight the remnants of ISIS.
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