The United States was involved in a reported deadly clash in Syria on Monday, in which Russian and Turkish troops were also targeted in a separate incident that marked the continuing violence of a civil war well into its 10th year.
The official Syrian Arab agency said one Syrian soldier was killed and two others wounded when they came under fire from two U.S. helicopters after trying to block a U.S. ground patrol at a security checkpoint southeast of northeastern Al-Qamishli city. , Al-Hasakah province. The outlet posted a photo of what appeared to be a wounded man with bandages on his shoulder, hand and foot.
“At exactly nine o’clock in the morning, an American patrol attempted to enter the area where one of our fighters was deployed in the rural area of the city of Al-Qamishli via the Tal al-Dhahab checkpoint,” SANA was quoted as saying. a Syrian military source said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitor in the United Kingdom, also reported that a U.S. plane was targeting Syrian troops at an “exchange between the two parties” at a checkpoint in Tal al-Dhahab.
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Reached for comment by Newsweekhowever, US Central Command offered another account that was shared by Army Colonel Myles B. Cagggins III spokesman. The statement said US coalition and allied Syrian Democratic forces, a mostly Kurdish army that controls much of northeastern Syria, were “conducting a routine anti-ISIS patrol” at Tal al-Dhahab when they “encountered a checkpoint. occupied by pro-Syrian regime forces. “
“After receiving safe passage from pro-regime troops, the patrol came under small armed fire from individuals near the checkpoint. Coalition troops returned fire in self-defense. The coalition conducted no airstrikes. No coalition locations occurred. The “Coalition patrol returned to base. The incident is being investigated,” the statement said.
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Elsewhere in the country, Russian and Turkish troops were also on patrol on Monday as they marched together in the northwestern province of Idlib through the highly-contested M4 highway. Both sides reported no casualties in what was described as a bomb blast on the road that the Turkish Ministry of Defense said damaged one of its cars, according to Turkey’s state broadcaster Anadolu Agency.
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No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which turned out to be a video that could not be independently verified by Newsweek.
While Russia backs Assad and Turkey supports the remnants of the uprising that erupted in the wake of the 2011 protests against him, the two powers have joined forces alongside Iran, which also supports the government, in a bid to escape conflict since 2017 Three years later, opposition and Islamist militant groups hold only Idlib and a stretch of territory across the country’s northern border with Turkey.
Assad, however, has promised to retake the entire country, and pro-government offensives will continue in Idlib and its environs. Russia has sought to prevent direct skirmishes between Turkish and Syrian troops, although isolated clashes have occurred and resulted in both sides.
With no end in sight for the conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Monday. The pair “discussed developments in Syria with a focus on stepping up joint counter-terrorism efforts” and “agreed to further coordinate their actions” based on previous agreements, according to a Kremlin readout.
“President Erdogan and President Putin have agreed on the continuation of talks between Turkey and Russia through military and diplomatic channels regarding the situation in Syria,” said a readout shared by the Turkish presidency.
Neither Turkey nor Syria recognize Assad’s rule, accusing the leader of having committed war crimes through the conflict. He spoke out against the two countries’ approach to the war in a speech delivered to his cabinet on Wednesday, but called for “free dialogue between free people” on the country’s future.
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U.S. Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey told reporters Friday that he found this “of great importance.”
“This is at least a shift in tone, and we are trying to figure out what this means. I think it means that Damascus often accepts the reality that this political process has been absolutely supported by the international community by almost everyone in the world, it does not go away, and that they want to deal with it better, “he added. “And that’s a good sign, if that’s indeed what it’s doing.”
However, one of the top stated US goals today in Syria is to limit Iran’s influence. The Islamic Republic has partnered with a number of hostile militaries against Israel, launching an airstrike campaign against targets suspected of being linked to Iranian presence in Syria.
On Monday, Assad Ali Asghar Khaji, Iran’s senior assistant to the Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, and the two discussed “the latest developments in the situation in Syria”, including upcoming meetings in Geneva regarding the establishment of a commission to revise to study the constitution of the country in the interest of ending the conflict. They also discussed efforts to “strengthen cooperation between the two countries to confront the blockade imposed by the United States and its allies against Syria.”
