US seeks longer stay in Syria with plans to train border force – Pro-Kurdish HDP Party

"That shows that the Americans are somehow gonna stay there [in Syria] and they also want to be a part of the political process in Syria," the deputy chair of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party said
Sputnik
Wednesday, 17 January 2018 17:35

US plans to create Kurdish-led security forces in Syria show that Washington will remain in the Arab republic as long as it wants because the Syrian government has no power to kick US troops out of the country, Hişyar Özsoy, the deputy chair of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in charge of foreign affairs, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the Defense Post news website published an article in which the spokesman of the US-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, outlawed in Russia) terrorist group, said that the coalition was engaged in training a force on the territory within Syria currently controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to maintain security in a controlled area along the Syrian border. Of the 30,000-strong force, approximately 15,000 will be veteran SDF fighters, while the other 15,000 servicemen are yet to be recruited and trained.

"That shows that the Americans are somehow gonna stay there [in Syria] and they also want to be a part of the political process in Syria," Özsoy said.

He pointed out that the US troops would not be withdrawn despite Damascus' protests as the latter does not have enough power to change the situation.

The Syrian government has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of the US forces from Syria. The recent statement on the issue was made by Bashar Jaafari, who headed the Syrian government delegation at Astana-8 talks in December, and called for the withdrawal of US troops from the country, calling this an "aggression" against Syria.

"[The Syrian authorities] say it, but they don’t have the power to kick them out. That is the harsh reality. Of course, they say it but this is not going to work. Americans are going to stay there as long as they want," Özsoy said.

The politician also noted that the Kurdish-dominated SDF, which will make up the bulk of the border forces, were the only US ally in Syria.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish forces proved to be the most effective in the fight against ISIS on the ground, this is one thing. They are the only American allies in Syria, that is the second," Özsoy said.

The US support for the Kurdish-led SDF has been repeatedly criticized by Turkey. Ankara believes that the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), part of the SDF, is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terror group in Turkey, the United States and the European Union. In this regard, Ozsoy also pointed out that the US foreign policy in the region faced difficulties over Turkish tensions with the Syrian Kurds.

"Ideally, America wants Turkey and the Kurds in Syria to work together, but now Turkey is resisting to that idea taking kind of 'either- or' position … The local allies for the Americans are the Kurds and Syrian Democratic Forces. But as a regional ally they want to keep Turkey. But the problem is that America’s regional and local allies are conflicting [with] each other. That is their main structural problem," Özsoy added.

The United States and its allies launched a military operation in Syria in 2014 without a request of the country’s government or a UN Security Council resolution. The move was criticized by the Syrian government headed by President Bashar Assad.