US troops clash with pro-government group in northeast Syria

DAMASCUS (AP) — A Syrian was killed and another was wounded when government supporters attacked American troops and tried to block their way as their convoy drove through an army checkpoint in northeastern Syria, prompting a rare clash, state media and activists reported. A U.S. military spokesman said coalition forces conducting a patrol near Qamishli encountered a checkpoint occupied by pro-Syrian government forces who ignored a series of warnings by coalition troops to de-escalate the situation. Carla Gleason, traveling with the U.S. defense secretary in Brussels, said no Americans were killed in the incident.Asked about the incident, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in Brussels he was told there was an “altercation,” without providing details.“As far as I know today’s incident did not involve the Russians,” he said.In other violence in the country’s northwest, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces continued their advance in Idlib and Aleppo provinces near the border with Turkey. With support from Russia, Syrian troops have been on the offensive for weeks in Idlib and parts of nearby Aleppo provinces, unleashing a humanitarian crisis with 700,000 people fleeing their homes and surging north toward the Turkish border.The U.N. human rights office in Geneva recorded incidents between Feb. 1-10 in which at least 85 civilians were killed, including 20 women and 27 children with most casualties in the so-called “de-escalation area” in Idlib, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday.The Syrian war, now in its ninth year, has pulled in international players including the U.S., Russia and Turkey.