Russia: According to Russia’s state news agency, Russian forces in Syria have expressed their concern at what Moscow has referred to as “provocative actions” by American forces deployed in the country as well.

In the northeastern Syrian province of Hassakeh, where US forces have been stationed for several years, leading a coalition of local Kurdish troops fighting against ISIL (ISIS) and its remnants, “provocative” incidents have reportedly taken place, according to a senior Russian military official quoted by TASS on 31st March 2023.

Russian Rear Admiral Mr. Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, told that “provocative actions on the part of US armed forces units have been noted in Hassakeh province… the Russian side lodged a protest with the coalition.”

Without providing specific timing information, Mr. Gurnivo stated that Russian forces had twice observed US troops in locations outside of their mutually agreed-upon zones of operation. The US-led coalition is battling hundreds of ISIL fighters camped in desolate areas of Syria where neither the coalition nor the Syrian army has complete control. Russia, which is conducting joint patrols in northern Syria with Turkey, has agreed to set aside specific areas where the coalition may operate.

The US launched several attacks in Syria last week against militants it claimed were allied with Iran, which the Pentagon claimed was responsible for an earlier drone strike. According to US sources, the armed organisation attacked a coalition camp in the northeast of the country close to Hassakeh city, where it killed one American military contractor, injured another, and wounded about a dozen US servicemen.

In a statement posted online and signed by the Iranian Advisory Committee in Syria, pro-Iranian fighters in Syria warned to respond against US airstrikes on their positions. US military authorities said that following the drone attack by the organisations with Iranian support, the George H. W. Bush carrier strike group’s deployment will be extended.

The decision probably means that the US strike group and its almost 5,000 US personnel, who are now in the European Command operational area, won’t be arriving at their home port on time.

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