The Syrian News Agency (SANA) said that a Syrian soldier was killed and others wounded as a US plane targeted a checkpoint of the regime forces in the Tal al-Dhahab area (southeast of Qamishli) in Hasakah Governorate, while a Turkish military vehicle was injured in an explosion during a joint patrol with Russia.
Local sources said to Al-Jazeera that the US bombing came after the checkpoint intercepted an American patrol and prevented it from crossing, and that clashes took place between the patrol and members of the regime forces that led to the injury of an American soldier.
The Syrian News Agency quoted a military source as saying that an American patrol tried to enter the area of the spread of one of our combat formations in the countryside of the city of Qamishli, so the checkpoint agents stopped them and prevented them from passing.
The source added that "the members of the American patrol fired several bursts, and after about 30 minutes, two American helicopters attacked the checkpoint elements with heavy machine guns, which led to the death of one soldier and wounding two others."
Since the beginning of the year, similar incidents have been repeated in northeastern Syria, especially after the deployment of the regime forces in the areas of influence of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, with regime forces or militants loyal to them intercepting patrols by the international coalition, and the Russian forces also deployed in the region intervene to calm the tension.
Since 2012, the Kurds have controlled the greater part of Hasakah Governorate (northeast of the country), while a few villages in the countryside of the cities of Qamishli and Hasakah remained under the control of fighters loyal to the regime.
In 2019, the regime forces deployed in areas close to the border with Turkey, in implementation of an agreement reached by the Kurds with Damascus to repel a large-scale attack launched by Ankara against their areas of control, and Russian forces were also deployed in the border region according to an agreement with Turkey, which controlled an area of 120 km.
The American forces are present in the region as part of the international coalition led by Washington, which has supported Kurdish fighters over the past years in their battles against ISIS.
Turkish patrol explosion
On another issue, the Russian Information Agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying that a Turkish military vehicle was hit in an explosion during a joint Turkish-Russian patrol on Monday in Idlib (northwestern Syria).
The agency said that the incident did not result in the injury of Russian soldiers, while Turkish security officials said later that the attack resulted in material damage and there were no deaths.
Last week, Russia said that the joint military patrols in Idlib, which are conducted along the M4 highway - which connects eastern and western Syria - were suspended due to the escalation of militant attacks in the region.