Villagers force US military convoy to turnaround in northeastern Syria: report

A U.S. military convoy was pelted with stones and blocked from entering a village in northwestern Syria on Saturday, Sham FM reported last night.

According to the Sham FM broadcaster, people in al-Kuzliya village in Syria’s al-Hasakeh province did not allow a US military convoy of seven armoured vehicles to enter the village.

The people were reported to have thrown several stones at the convoy, forcing it to turn back.

On 5 March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow to discuss the latest escalation of tensions in northern Syria. Afterwards, the two leaders said that they had reached an agreement to introduce a ceasefire in Idlib province beginning 6 March.

Tensions in northern Syria intensified in February after Syrian government forces attacked Turkish troops. As the Russian Defence Ministry explained afterwards, the Syrian army had thought it was attacking terrorists as the Turkish forces were not supposed to be in the area.