US sends largest convoy into Syria since fall of Assad – media
The US-led coalition has sent its largest convoy of weapons and logistics supplies for its forces in Syria since the fall of the government of President Bashar Assad earlier this month, Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath have reported.
Approximately 60 loaded trucks have entered the country from Iraq via the al-Waleed border crossing, according to reports published on Monday.
The convoy was heading towards coalition bases in the Syrian provinces of Al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor, it added.
More weapons and supplies are being delivered to the coalition forces amid the intensification of US military movements, including the deployment of armored vehicles and troops in and around the cities of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and Kobani, Al-Arabiya noted.
According to the broadcaster, a total of six convoys with cargo for the coalition, totaling around 210 trucks, have already crossed into Syria since Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) and other militant groups took over Damascus on December 8.
The development comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “bury” Kurdish militants. Earlier this month, he called on the US, its NATO ally, to reconsider its support for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), and has urged its partners to choose between backing Türkiye or supporting Kurdish militants. The YPG and other Kurdish groups are operating near the Turkish and Iraqi borders.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon announced that the number of US servicemen in the country stood at around 2,000, which was roughly 1,100 more than the figure it had previously provided.
After Washington deployed its troops to Syria a decade ago under the pretext of fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), they ended up occupying areas in the northeast of the country where major oil fields are located.
The situation in Syria currently remains tense with clashes continuing between US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are largely made up of Kurdish militias, and various Turkish-aligned factions.
Kurdish groups like the YPG, who have been major allies of Washington in fighting Islamic State, are also considered terrorists by Ankara.
The US-led coalition announced earlier that it had conducted several rounds of airstrikes against Islamic State targets since December 8.
However, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said last week that Washington and IS were actually colluding behind the scenes. The jihadists are being warned about aerial attacks in advance by the Americans, so that they could avoid losses, it claimed. According to the SVR, the US is planning to use Islamic State militants to carry out terrorist attacks against Russian bases in Syria.
