Kurds: ‘America is running away’
U.S. troop convoy pelted with potatoes, insults during withdrawal
Akcakale, Turkey — Angry over the U.S. withdrawal, residents of a Kurdish-dominated Syrian city hurled potatoes at departing American military vehicles as they drove by on Monday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said U.S. troops will stay in eastern Syria to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming weeks and he was discussing options to keep them there.
“Like rats, America is running away,” one man shouted in Arabic at a convoy of armored vehicles flying American flags passing down an avenue in the northeastern city of Qamishli, according to video by the Kurdish news agency.
The video showed people pelting the vehicles with potatoes and shouting, “No America,” and “America liar,” in English.
Another man shouted obscenities and talked of babies in Kurdish-held areas who have died in the Turkish offensive. One of the vehicles reversed down the street and over a sidewalk as several people walked after it, shaking their fists in the air and shouting insults.
The scene encapsulated the Kurds’ feelings of betrayal and added a new indignity to a U.S. withdrawal that has been rushed and saw several close brushes with Turkish-backed forces. The Kurds were stunned when President Donald Trump two weeks ago abruptly decided to pull U.S. troops out of border areas, abandoning their allied Kurdish-backed fighters ahead of Turkey’s invasion. After the assault began Oct. 9, Trump ordered a general withdrawal from Syria.
At another location, near the town of Tal Tamr, a group of protesters raised banners to departing U.S. troops late Sunday, according to an Associated Press video.
One man blocked the way of a U.S. van with a poster reading: “Thanks for US people, but Trump betrayed us.”
The Kurdish-led force was a key U.S. ally in the long and bloody fight that eventually brought down the Islamic State group’s rule over northeastern and eastern Syria. The U.S. troops near the border were seen by the Kurds as insurance that Turkey would not attack.
After being abandoned by U.S. forces, the Kurds agreed to a cease-fire deal brokered by Washington that requires them to leave a swath of territory along the border, handing it over to Turkish control.
Esper said he is discussing an option that would keep a small residual U.S. military force to secure oil fields in eastern Syria and continue the fight Islamic State militants.
Speaking during a visit to Afghanistan, he said he has not made a final decision on that option and has not yet presented it to Trump. He underscored the importance of protecting the oil fields from IS to ensure the militants don’t profit from them.
He said U.S. troops who are working with Kurdish-led forces to guard the oil fields are still in place.