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Syrian Kurds pelted a convoy of US troops with potatoes as they left north-eastern Syria and the clock ticks down on a shaky ceasefire brokered between the US and Turkey.
A video posted on Kurdish media on Monday showed angry and dismayed Syrian Kurds hurling potatoes at the US military convoy as it passed through an area in the city of Qamishli.
“Americans are escaping like rats,” men shouted at the passing armoured vehicles.
“Shame on you,” another could be heard saying.
The convoy was heading through the Sahela border crossing into Iraq’s northern province of Dohuk, Kurdish sources said, adding that more than 100 US vehicles had been seen leaving since Sunday night.
Turkey launched its offensive in north-eastern Syria on October 9, saying it was targeting Islamic State and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), after Washington decided to pull back its troops.


US Defence Secretary Mark Esper attempted to justify the US pull back, saying that the reason was “the imminent invasion planned by the Turks, a long-standing Nato ally”.
But it was US President Donald Trump who effectively green-lighted Turkey’s offensive and abandoned Washington’s Syrian Kurdish partners, who lost more than 10,000 people fighting alongside the US against Islamic State.
“We also were faced with a situation again where we might be faced with a potential conflict with a long-standing Nato ally and … we had no obligation to defend the Kurds against a long-standing Nato ally,” Esper said during an official visit to Afghanistan.
On Monday, Trump defended his Syria pull-out saying the US “never agreed to protect the Kurds”.
The president added that a “small group” of US forces will secure Syrian oilfields.
Turkey hits back at China’s call to stop military action in Syria
“I don’t think it’s necessary other than we secure the oil,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting, when asked about keeping some US forces in Syria.
Another contingent of US troops will be left near Syria’s southern border with Jordan at Israel and Jordan’s behest, Trump said.
Last week, Washington and Ankara announced a five-day halt to hostilities – which appeared to include most of Turkey’s main demands from the US in north-eastern Syria and which was set to expire late Tuesday.

Turkey’s defence and foreign ministers reiterated Monday that the “pause” was conditional and that the offensive will resume if Syrian Kurdish militias don’t move back from the border in five days.
Each side has a different definition of what this border area should be. The 13-point agreement between Ankara and Washington makes no mention of the size of the zone.
Turkey insists on a 444km-long safe zone along its frontier with Syria up to Iraq, and 32km deep into Syrian territory, to ensure its border security and to repatriate Syrian refugees.
US Vice-President Mike Pence, who announced the ceasefire deal last week, said Syrian Kurds would withdraw from a “demarcation line” 32km from the Turkish-Syrian border.
On Monday, the Turkish Defence Ministry said 125 YPG vehicles had left the region, as it reported some violations of the truce.
Trump defends abandoning Kurds as Turkey attacks: they didn’t help US in WWII
Esper said US troops in cities near oilfields were not currently withdrawing, adding that the entire process will “take weeks, not days”.
The US soldiers and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Washington turned its back on, will work together “to deny access to those oilfields by [Islamic State],” Esper said.
Much hinges on a Tuesday meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin – Syria’s main military backer – in Sochi, where they could hammer out their own agreement.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that Turkey’s incursion had enabled terrorists to escape from custody, raising concerns that such battle-hardened militants could return to their homelands, including Russia.
“As a result of the Turkish army’s actions, eight refugee camps and 12 prisons for foreign militants were left without guard,” Shoigu said at a security forum in Beijing, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Additional reporting by The Washington Post


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Syrian conflict

‘Escaping like rats’: angry Syrian Kurds hurl potatoes at convoy of withdrawing US troops

Residents angry over the US withdrawal from Syria hurl potatoes at American military vehicles in the town of Qamishli, northern Syria. Photo: AP

(191020) -- ALEPPO (SYRIA), Oct. 20, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Oct. 20, 2019 shows part of a former U.S. military base near the city of Manbij in Syria's northern province of Aleppo. Syrian army entered the base on Sunday after the withdrawal of U.S. troops, which is one of the latest bases abandoned by U.S. forces since Turkey started a military campaign against Kurdish militia in northern Syria. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

A convoy of U.S. vehicles is seen after withdrawing from northern Syria, on the outskirts of Dohuk, Iraq, October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Ari Jalal TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Turkey hits back at China’s call to stop military action in Syria

Turkish troops are deployed in Syria’s northern region of Manbij in mid-October. Photo: AP

Trump defends abandoning Kurds as Turkey attacks: they didn’t help US in WWII

Smoke rises from an explosion in the border town of Tel Abyad, Syria. Photo: Haberturk via Reuters TV

epa05942059 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, 03 May 2017. The Turkish President is on a working visit in Russia. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

epa07907085 Turkey-backed members of Syrian National Army prepare for moving to Turkey for an expected military operation by Turkey into Kurdish areas of northern Syria, in Azas near Turkey border, Syria, 08 October 2019 (issued 09 October 2019). US President Donald J. Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from the area ahead of the anticipated action by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. EPA-EFE/STR

epa07907090 Turkey-backed members of Syrian National Army prepare for moving to Turkey with heavy armed vehicles for an expected military operation by Turkey into Kurdish areas of northern Syria, in Azas near Turkey border, Syria, 08 October 2019 (issued 09 October 2019). US President Donald J. Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from the area ahead of the anticipated action by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. EPA-EFE/STR

Turkish army soldiers drive towards the border with Syria near Akcakale in Sanliurfa province on October 8, 2019. - Turkey said on October 8, 2019, it was ready for an offensive into northern Syria, while President Donald Trump insisted the United States had not abandoned its Kurdish allies who would be targeted in the assault. Trump has blown hot and cold since a surprise announcement two days before that Washington was pulling back 50 to 100 "special operators" from Syria's northern frontier. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP)

A Turkish military convoy in Kilis near the Turkish-Syrian border. Photo: IHA via Reuters

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For many Kurdish residents in Syria, the pull-out of US troops by President Donald Trump roused feelings of abandonment



‘Americans are escaping like rats,’ men shouted at the passing armoured vehicles. For many Kurdish residents in Syria, the pull-out of US troops by President Donald Trump roused feelings of abandonment.


Donald Trump

‘Escaping like rats’: angry Syrian Kurds hurl potatoes at convoy of withdrawing US troops

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} For many Kurdish residents in Syria, the pull-out of US troops by President Donald Trump roused feelings of abandonment

For many Kurdish residents in Syria, the pull-out of US troops by President Donald Trump roused feelings of abandonment