Screen grab from RusVesna’s video.
Russian forces have blocked a US military patrol which violated the deconfliction mechanism in northeastern Syria, RusVesna.SU reported on June 20.
The patrol, which consisted of four Oshkosh M-ATV and International MaxxPro armored vehicles, approached the M4 highway near the town of Tell Tamr in the northern countryside of al-Hasakah without giving Russian forces a prior notice.
“The US military moved without prior notice to the Russian side and violated the deconfliction mechanism,” RusVesna’s report reads.
Under agreements with Turkey and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Russian forces are responsible for securing the strategic highway, which links al-Hasakah with Raqqa and Aleppo.
In response to this violation, Russian forces blocked the highway in front of the US patrol, forcing it to turn back. A video of the incident was shared by RusVesna.
This was not the first such incident. Russian forces confronted US troops on several occasions since being deployed in northeastern Syria more than a year ago.
The US is slowly losing its influence in northeastern Syria, despite the fact that most of the region is tightly controlled by the SDF. Earlier this week, a US patrol was blocked by civilian supporters of the Damascus government in northern al-Hasakah.
