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Russian and US military convoys are seen on the M4 highway in Syria's northeastern Hasaka province on January 20, 2020.Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Russian military convoy was prevented from approaching the Semalka border crossing area by US forces on Tuesday, according to media and observatory reports.
A US soldier told Rudaw they will not allow Russians near the area, which marks the border between northeast Syria and the Kurdistan Region .
“If they do come here, we are going to stop them and try to ask for help,” a US soldier told Rudaw while waiting on the Qamishli-Malikiya road to block Russian patrols.
Russian forces were deployed to northeast Syria to patrol the Turkey-Syria border following an invasion of the region by Turkish-backed Syrian proxy groups in October.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) later reported that a Russian patrol was stopped by US forces on the al-Malakiya (Derik) - Maabadah highway north of Rmelan, Hasaka province, before it could reach the border.
“The Russian patrol returned to [Qamishli] airbase after being prevented by the Americans from reaching the SDF-controlled crossing of Smelka on the border with Iraq,” said the UK-based monitor group.
North Press Agency (NPA), a local news outlet with close ties to the SDF, reported Monday’s prevention of the Russian patrol, saying that both forces had previously agreed Russia must only stay on the Syria-Turkey border without approaching Qamishli or Hasaka.
The crossing border is a strategic, used by US forces to deliver military and logistical aid to the SDF - the main ally of the US-led Global Coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) on the ground in Syria.
The US has said that they will only keep about a thousand soldiers in SDF-controlled oil-rich areas in order to protect the oil and prevent it from being controlled by Iran, Damascus and ISIS remnants.
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