Kurds pelt departing US troops with fruits for abandoning them in Syria

Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria’s border with Turkey prompted Kurdish protesters to pelt U.S. military vehicles with rotten food and rocks on Monday.

In footage recorded in the northeastern city of Qamishli, Syria, and released this week, frustrated protesters throw what appears to be either rotten fruit or potatoes, and chant “No America” and “America liar” as U.S. troop transport vehicles move down the street.

ABC News correspondent Adam Harvey also posted video from the same location, showing some throwing rocks at the vehicles.

According to Time, at one point, a man yells in Arabic, “Like rats, America is running away” while another laments the deaths of children and babies as a result of the Turkish invasion.

“Fuck American, what happened to you?” one man yells, according to Middle East Eye correspondent Ragıp Soylu.

“No, no, America,” others are heard chanting in the footage.

Kurdish civilians have been under attack by Turkish forces since Oct. 9, days after Donald Trump spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the phone and appeared to acknowledge and greenlight a planned military operation. The White House later confirmed in a statement that Trump had all but given the Turkish operation the go-ahead to carry out its strike on the region and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which Turkey sees as its enemy.

The SDF, allies of the United States, lost around 11,000 fighters in the war against ISIS.

Trump reportedly made the decision to withdraw from northern Syria without consulting military advisers or giving the Pentagon advance notice. The subsequent retreat was so hasty it required that U.S. forces bomb their own munitions stashes to avoid them falling into the wrong hands, specifically ISIS-aligned prisoners who escaped detention after Kurdish guards were forced to flee.

Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds has drawn heavy condemnation from those inside and outside his party. And despite a supposed “cease-fire” brokered by the United States with Turkey, about which Trump has repeatedly bragged, Turkish forces have reportedly continued to bomb the region and target Kurdish allies.

“The cease-fire does not change the fact that America has abandoned an ally, adding insult to dishonor,” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney (R) said on the Senate floor last week. “The administration speaks cavalierly, even flippantly, even as our ally has suffered death and casualty. Their homes have been burned and their families have been torn apart.”

He added, “It strikes at American honor. What we have done to the Kurds will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of American history.”

Last week, 129 House Republicans also voted to formally condemn Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds. H.J. Res. 77 eventually passed the chamber by a margin of 354-60.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.