Assad loyalists clash with US patrol as Turks talk tough

Middle east correspondent

US TROOPS exchanged fire with proassad gunmen in north-east Syria yesterday, as the Syrian regime continued a war of words with Turkey over their stand-off in the country’s north-west.

An American military patrol was stopped by a crowd of militiamen and civilians loyal to Bashar al-assad near the town of Qamishli. The fracas began with angry words and one Syrian man tearing a US flag off one of the armoured vehicles. However, it quickly escalated and video footage showed several armed men shooting rifles at US vehicles while the American troops fired bursts of automatic gunfire.

“The patrol came under small arms fire from unknown individuals. In selfdefence, coalition troops returned fire,” said Col Myles Caggins III, a US military spokesman.

America has cut off diplomatic relations with the Assad regime and accused it of war crimes, but says US troops are only in Syria to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), not forces loyal to Damascus.

Syrian state media said one civilian was killed by US troops. “The American occupation soldiers fired live bullets and smoke bombs on the locals as a civilian from the village of Khirbet Ammo was martyred,” it reported.

President Donald Trump ordered all US troops out of Syria last year but was later convinced to leave about 600 soldiers to patrol parts of the north-east.

Nato defence ministers agreed yesterday to expand the alliance’s training mission in Iraq, responding to American demands for more action from allies in the Middle East.

The idea is for Nato to take on personnel from the Us-led multinational coalition against Isil.