Foreign intervention in behalf of Syrian rebels U.S.-led intervention against ISIL The Akashat ambush was a well planned assault against an unarmed Syrian Army convoy defended by Iraqi soldiers that took place on 4 March 2013, as the group was travelling in the province of Anbar, next to the border with Syria.

[6] On 1 March 2013, according to the Syrian officer who was in charge of the Yaarubiyeh border crossing, north of the Iraqi border, reported a man identifying himself as the leader of one faction of Jabhat al-Nusra called him that day demanding that he and his men surrender.

[7] The group of 64 were detained by Iraqi authorities and transported to Baghdad, where from there they were to be transported back to Syrian authorities in the Al Waleed border crossing, located in Iraq's Sunni majority Al Anbar Governorate close to the Syrian and Jordanian borders.

[8] The incident took place on 4 March 2013, while the convoy was on its way to the al-Waleed Border Crossing post in southwestern Iraq, located in the predominantly Sunni Anbar Province.

Explosives were first detonated on Iraqi military escorts assigned to protect transport the lorries full of unarmed Syrian soldiers.