Two US troops go missing in Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr after gunmen attack their vehicle: SANA

A US military convoy drives on the outskirts of the Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian city of Qamishli on February 12, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

At least two US soldiers have gone missing after a group of unknown gunmen attacked their vehicle in Syria’s northeastern province of Dauyr al-Zawr, amid a growing antipathy against the presence of American forces in the area.

Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local sources requesting anonymity, reported that the assailants attacked their Hummer car on Monday as it was traveling from the al-Omar oil field, which lies in the northeastern countryside of the province, to the al-Tanak field.

The sources added that the vehicle was later found burnt and abandoned by the side of a road, noting that the fate of the two US troopers aboard remains unknown.
Last week, SANA reported that unidentified armed men had ambushed a vehicle, carrying US soldiers and Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), near the village of Rowayshed in the southern countryside of Hasakah province.

It added that the car went out of control and a number of its occupants were wounded as a result.
Earlier this month, a joint patrol of US forces and SDF members was also attacked in the countryside of Dayr al-Zawr province, which led to the killing of a US officer and two Kurdish-led militants.

US sends military reinforcements to northern Syria

Separately, a US convoy of 30 military vehicles entered northern Syria on Monday.

SANA reported that the convoy, which contained military equipment and logistics, entered Syrian territories from Iraq through the al-Walid border crossing point, and headed towards the the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah.
Since late October 2019, the US has been redeploying troops to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in eastern Syria, in a reversal of President Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the Arab country.

The Pentagon claims the move aims to “protect” the fields and facilities from possible attacks by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. That claim came although Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oil fields.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also threatened that the American troops deployed to the fields would use “military force” against any party seeking to challenge control of the sites, even if it were Syrian government forces or their Russian allies.

Syria, which has not authorized American military presence in its territory, has said the US is “plundering” the country’s oil.