DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The United States has been training the so-called SDF forces and militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Syria, as little as a few kilometers from the border with Turkey, with the drills including maneuvers involving the use of Javelin anti-tank missiles, Milliyet reported.
The Turkish newspaper recalled that just three days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a new military operation in Syria in late May, AFP published photos of a U.S. convoy patrolling in Rumeylan, an oil-rich region East of Hasakah, Syria, presumably as a message to Ankara not to intervene. Russia also called on Turkey to avoid an escalation at the time, while Syria warned that it could respond militarily.
Turkey, according to the newspaper, wants to establish a security buffer in Syria stretching from Manbij to the West to Qamishli in the east, with the latter under the control of the SDF. Only the area between Ras al-Ayn and Tell Abyad are controlled by the militants supported by Turkey, Milliyet noted.
In July, Erdogan called on U.S. forces to stop training the “terrorist” militias and demanded that Washington leave Syria.
“America has to leave areas east of the Euphrates now. This is an outcome that came out of the Astana process,” Erdogan said, referring to the Astana Format peace negotiations headed up by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
Weeks later, Milliyet recalled the U.S. troops had once again been spotted operating along the Turkish border, this time in Qamishli, northeast Syria.
This week, an AFP photojournalist again spotted U.S. forces training Kurdish forces near al-Malikiyah, Syria, this time with Bradley and MRAP armored vehicles and Javelin and AT4 anti-tank missiles.
Milliyet emphasized that although the Pentagon has long justified its presence in Syria through “concerns over the resurgence of Daesh”, the terrorist group has been heavily weakened, and is not known to have a single operational tank in its arsenal.
The United States and Turkey have occupied vast areas of northern and northeastern Syria since 2016. While Ankara has justified its actions citing the fight against Daesh and Kurdish “terrorists”, Washington has justified its occupation via the ‘battle against Daesh’ and the need to help Kurdish forces against the terrorist group.