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UP FRONTFriday 10 March 2017
US force in Syria to help anti-IS fighters with firepower
PHILIP ISSA This frame grab shows U.S. forces patrol on the outskirts of the Syrian town, Manbij, a flashpoint to do.” He added that SDF
BASSEM MROUE between Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, in al-Asaliyah fighters have so far cap-
Associated Press village, Aleppo province, Syria. tured about 6,400 square
BEIRUT (AP) — A Kurdish-led kilometers (2,471 square
force fighting the Islamic (Arab 24 network, via AP) miles) of terrain from IS.
State group with the sup- “That’s excellent progress,”
port of U.S. troops will close weather fire support, ar- advance as they continue said. “This is just some add- Dorrian said, adding that
in on the extremists’ de tillery fire to support their the isolation of Raqqa,” he ed fire power that will be SDF fighters have also cut
facto capital Raqqa within very difficult for the enemy many supply lines used by
a few weeks, but the battle to deal with.” IS to try to either escape
for the city will be difficult, The deployment reflects from the city “or to have
a U.S. military official said Washington’s deeper in- fighters leave the area and
Thursday. volvement in Syria under conduct terrorist opera-
Air Force Col. John Dorrian the administration of Presi- tions elsewhere away from
said the U.S. force consist- dent Donald Trump and Iraq and Syria.”
ing of a couple of hundred thrusts the U.S. further into Dorrian said the SDF will
Marines that arrived in the a difficult diplomatic en- need a “few more weeks”
region south of the Syrian- tanglement. to completely isolate
Turkish border on Wednes- Dorrian told The Associat- Raqqa and a decision will
day will not have any front- ed Press by telephone that be made about the timing
line roles but will provide the U.S.-backed force will “of the liberation battle to
artillery fire to support the close in on Raqqa within begin.”
advance of the Kurdish-led a few weeks and warned The SDF recently withdrew
Syrian Democratic Forces. that the battle for the city from areas near its bastion
“The intent of their pres- will likely be difficult as the Manbij, west of Raqqa,
ence is to provide all- extremists are well dug in. to make room for the Syr-
He said a complicating ian military to deploy last
factor is that the U.S. does week. Manbij lies 70 miles
not have a partner govern- (113 kilometers) northwest
ment to work with in Syria of Raqqa.
as is the case in Iraq. “There is a clear coordina-
The U.S. already had some tion between the Syrian
500 advisers working with army and Kurdish forces,”
the Syrian Democratic Syrian lawmaker Omar
Forces in addition to a Osse told the AP Thursday.
force of 400 that arrived But the Syrian government
more recently, Dorrian is a pariah to Western
said. The SDF, a coalition of states, and Damascus has
Kurdish, Arab and Christian never approved the pres-
fighters, has been the most ence of their militaries on
effective force fighting IS in Syrian soil.
Syria. The SDF has been on “Any presence of U.S. forc-
the offensive in the Raqqa es or other forces on the
area since November un- Syrian land, without co-
der the cover of airstrikes ordination with the Syrian
by the U.S.-led coalition state, is considered a fla-
with the aim of eventually grant violation of the Syrian
besieging the city before sovereignty,” said Osse.
storming it. The Marine deployment
Dorian said the SDF “made also risks antagonizing U.S.-
excellent progress and the NATO ally Turkey. The SDF is
enemy hasn’t been able led by the main Kurdish mi-
to stop them from doing litia the YPG, which Turkey
the things that they set out says is a terrorist organiza-
tion.
Late on Thursday night,
Syria’s state news agency
SANA quoted an unnamed
military official as saying
that Turkish troops shelled
Syrian army positions near
Manbij killing and wound-
ing several troops. The re-
port gave no further details
and there was no immedi-
ate comment from Turkey.
The incident is likely to in-
crease tensions between
Damascus and Ankara,
which has been a main
backer of opposition forces
against the government.q
