DAMASCUS (SANA via TASS) — The United States has deployed additional military equipment to the northeast of Syria’s al-Hasakah governorate, the SANA news agency reported, citing local sources.

According to the agency, a convoy of armoured vehicles and other military equipment arrived from Iraq via the Al-Walid crossing point. SANA quoted local sources as saying the equipment was intended to reinforce the capabilities of existing U.S. bases in the region.

In addition, six US armoured vehicles left the Iraqi village of El Mahmoudia south of the Al-Walid crossing point, crossed the Iraqi-Syrian border and headed towards a Syrian oil field controlled by US troops.

On 9 October 2019, Turkey launched an operation code-named “Spring of Peace” with the aim of creating a buffer zone in northern Syria where, according to Ankara, Syrian refugees could return from Turkey. At the end of October, US President Donald Trump declared the withdrawal of the US army from the area of the Turkish military operation, but added that Washington was determined to keep control of the oil fields in the northeast of the country. The Arab and Turkish media subsequently declared more than once that the United States was regrouping its forces in northeastern Syria.