U.S.-Kurdish convoy attacked

Military reports no coalition casualties in Syria bombing

This photo, released by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, shows missiles flying into the sky near the international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.
This photo, released by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, shows missiles flying into the sky near the international airport in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.

BEIRUT -- A suicide bomber with the Islamic State extremist group targeted a joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Monday.

U.S. military Col. Sean Ryan said there were no casualties among the U.S.-led coalition members. However, the attack highlighted the dangers surrounding U.S. plans to withdraw from the region after a declaration that the Islamic State group had been defeated.

"We can confirm a combined U.S. and Syrian partner force convoy was involved" in the suicide bomb attack, Ryan said. "We will continue to review the situation and provide updates as appropriate."

The attack -- the second against U.S. troops in less than a week -- happened on a checkpoint on the edge of the town of Shaddadeh in Hassakeh province, on a road used by local Kurdish fighters and the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants near the Iraqi border.

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. That bombing, outside a popular restaurant frequented by American troops, was the deadliest assault on U.S. troops in Syria since American forces moved into the country in 2015.

The extremist group claimed both attacks in statements carried by its Aamaq news agency. The Islamic State has been driven from virtually all the territory it once held in Syria and Iraq, but many of its fighters have gone underground or returned to their former lives rather than being killed or captured. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 fighters remain at large in Iraq and Syria.

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.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast killed five people and wounded others.

In a Dec. 19 tweet announcing the withdrawal from Syria, President Donald Trump declared, using an acronym for the Islamic State, "We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency." He said the troops would begin coming home "now." That plan triggered immediate push-back from military leaders and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Over the past month, U.S. officials have suggested it will likely take several months to safely withdraw the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.

The office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and Trump spoke by phone early Monday about Manbij, and that Erdogan told Trump that Turkey is "ready to take over the security" of the town "without losing time."

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 the Islamic State from Manbij in 2016.

Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Erdogan expressed condolences for the American deaths last week in Manbij, which he called a "provocation meant to affect the U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria." Erdogan said the two leaders agreed their military chiefs would "speed up" consultations about a safe zone in northeastern Syria.

Other countries are also stepping up their activity in Syria. Israel launched a multipronged attack on military targets in Syria late Sunday, several hours after its air defense system intercepted a missile launched at a ski slope crowded with winter revelers.

Israeli authorities said the missile was launched by Iranian troops stationed in Syria. It appeared to be a response to an earlier bombing of an airport south of Damascus that was attributed to Israel.

The Iranian troops are fighting to preserve Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, in cooperation with the Russian military, which has become the predominant force in Syria.

On Monday, the Russian armed forces issued a statement saying that four Syrian soldiers were killed and six were wounded in the Israeli strikes, and added that Syrian air defense batteries destroyed more than 30 Israeli cruise missiles and guided bombs.

The Israeli military did not verify the claim, but army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said that several Syrian air defense batteries were destroyed alongside Iranian weapons caches, and that the missile aimed at the Mt. Hermon ski resort was launched "by Iranian troops from an area which the relevant parties" -- an apparent reference to Russia -- "had assured Israel were free of Iranian troops."

Information for this article was contributed by Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press; by Vivian Yee of The New York Times; and by Nabih Bulos and Noga Tarnopolsky of the Los Angeles Times.

A Section on 01/22/2019

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