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| Outgoing anti-ISIL commander in Iraq says US will continue with YPG after Raqqa operation |
| 2017-09-03 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Outgoing army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the Iraq-based commander of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has made it clear that Washington will continue to cooperate with the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) inside the Kurdish-Syrian Arab alliance Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its bid to sweep jihadists from the Middle Euphrates River Valley during the final stand. Speaking at his final teleconference call from Baghdad to a group of journalists in Washington, Townsend said the final stand of ISIL would be in the Middle Euphrates River Valley from Syria’s Deir al-Zor province down to Iraq’s Rawa, spanning over 250 kilometers and SDF will be a part of the operation, answering a question over the course of future prospects in the region. “And you mentioned a Kurd force, but the Syrian Democratic Forces comprise of about 50,000 fighters, half of whom are Arabs. And what I’ve watched with this force is that they, first of all, solicit volunteers and recruits from the area to be liberated and they form the leading elements of the force from those people. So I think that they will—they will do this much in the same way they are doing it in Raqqa. They will recruit people from the Deir ez-Zor province in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, and they will be part of the campaign. And I am reasonably confident, based on past history that they will find a force—they will make a force that is acceptable to the people down there.” Townsend said, citing their previous experience in Manbij, Tabqa and currently in Raqqa. “You have to remember that the Syrian Democratic Forces are not the Iraqi Security Forces. They do not have tanks, helicopters or fighter jets. They are really an irregular light infantry force with a comparative handful of light armored vehicles and heavy weapons, who, with coalition assistance, are fighting well above the weight class. They have been and remain the most effective counter-ISIS fighting force in Syria,” he said, stressing Washington was also having a conversation with Moscow to de-conflict the region. Townsend also added that the situation in Manbij was quiet for around 10 days after Turkey took “appropriate measures” to prevent further clashes between the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters and coalition soldiers. “So we actually have not had these clashes that you are referring to now in probably—I think, about 10 days or so. And what we were seeing about two weeks ago were some of the Free Syrian Army opposition—Syrian opposition fighters in the area controlled by the Turkish military, were firing upon the Manbij area there, where there are some U.S. forces—coalition forces there. We identified this to our Turkish allies—our NATO allies, Turkey, and they have, I think, taken the appropriate measures to get that under control,” Townsend said. |
| Posted by:Fred |