A U.S. military convoy withdrawing from Syria was pelted by vegetables and other rubbish by angry local residents upset with America’s retreat from the region.
Video of the incident was filmed and posted by the online Kurdish media outlet known as Hawar News Agency, which is based out of Hasaka, Syria.
The video shows local Syrian residents throwing garbage and yelling at U.S. Oshkosh M-ATVs and some logistics trucks as the convoy made its way through a Syrian city.
Rudaw, a media group headquartered in Iraqi Kurdistan, tweeted that residents of Qamishli, Syria, blocked the convoy and threw tomatoes at U.S. forces as they attempted to drive through the city following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria.
Rudaw also posted a video of Kurds near the Iraqi city of Erbil swearing and throwing stones at an American convoy as it moved through the area.
Trump ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria following a Turkish incursion into the country. The mission, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, is aimed at combating U.S.-backed Kurdish forces that Ankara believes to be a terrorist organization.
The U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who liberated northeastern Syria from ISIS’ tyranny feel betrayed by their American allies.
Roughly 1,000 troops are departing northeastern Syria, while a small group of American commandos will remain at the Tanf garrison near the Syria-Iraq border.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters Saturday that the U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria could take weeks not days.
“We want to be very deliberate and very safe as we go about it. And it’s happening through a variety of means,” Esper told reporters.
“We’re using either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft or ground convoys. And each of those gives you different capabilities and different means of security,” Esper said.
Esper explained that U.S. troops leaving Syria would be relocated to western Iraq where they would continue the defeat ISIS mission.
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That plan could mean U.S. special operations forces might conduct cross-border operations against ISIS leaders and high valued targets in Syria. It’s an option, Esper told reporters Saturday, that he will discuss with allies of the anti-ISIS fight.
“If U.S. forces go into Syria to do a counter-ISIS mission, they will have air cover. That’s just —that’s how we do business,” Esper said.
Reuters reported Monday that a convoy of withdrawing U.S. forces crossed into Dohuk province, Iraq, from the Sahela border crossing.
According to the Reuters story, the convoy consisted of nearly 100 vehicles.
Mustafa Bali, a spokesperson for the SDF, tweeted a video Monday of angry Syrian residents holding signs and protesting in front of a U.S. military convoy. One sign thanked the American people while condemning Trump for his betrayal.
Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.
