IS group targets U.S. convoy in Syria
An Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Monday, marking the second attack against U.S. troops in less than a week and further highlighting the dangers surrounding U.S. plans to withdraw forces after a declaration that the extremist group had been defeated.
The attack happened on a checkpoint on the edge of the town of Shaddadeh in the Hassakeh province, on a road used by local Kurdish fighters and the U.S.led coalition fighting IS militants near the Iraqi border.
U.S. military Col. Sean Ryan said there were no casualties among the U.S.led coalition members. “We can confirm a combined U.S. and Syrian partner force convoy was involved” in the suicide bomb attack, he said.
“We will continue to review the situation and provide updates as appropriate,” he added.
Monday’s bombing came days after a suicide attack killed 19 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians, in the northern Syrian town of Manbij.
The Kurdish Hawar news agency, based in northern Syria, said Monday’s blast targeted a Syrian Kurdish checkpoint as a coalition convoy was passing near Shaddadeh. It said two Kurdish fighters were lightly wounded in the blast.
A video it posted showed smoke rising from a vehicle on a desert road. Coalition armored vehicles and ambulances could be seen on the road.
The Observatory said the blast killed five people and wounded others.
The fate of the Syrian town, controlled by U.S.backed Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists, has been a source of tension between Ankara and Washington. Turkey insists on the withdrawal of the Syrian Kurdish militia, which drove IS from Manbij in 2016.
In a separate development on Monday, the European Union added 11 businessmen and five companies to its list of Syrians under sanctions for backing President Bashar Assad’s government.
EU foreign ministers imposed travel bans and asset freezes on them, saying they “are involved in luxury estate development and other regime-backed projects, and as such support and/or benefit from the Syrian regime.”
The EU began imposing sanctions on Assad and his supporters in 2011, after peaceful protests erupted against his family’s decadeslong rule and the government launched a violent crackdown. The sanctions are reviewed every year.