After the U.S. said that plans to set up a 30,000-strong “border force” inside Syria to protect the territory held by its Kurdish allies, Syria along with Turkey and Russia reacted and accused Washington of trying to divide the country.
Reuters reported that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has made great strides over the past two years in defeating a range of opponents and has restored control of nearly all of Syria’s main cities and towns. It considers the continued U.S. presence a threat to its ambition to restore full control over the entire country. As a result, President Bashar al-Assad vowed to drive the U.S. presence from the country.
Turkey said that steps to protect their borders will be done after the country accused Washington of setting up a “terrorist army” on the Turkish border, and said it would take steps to protect itself.
The Russian government also responded to the U.S. plan, saying that Washington plans revealed a plot to partition Syria.
The seven-year civil war in Syria has resulted in hundreds of thousands people including children to be killed and more than 11 million to leave their homes. Since 2014, the United States along with an international coalition started helping Syrian fighters battling Islamic State militants.
The U.S. sent about 2,000 special-forces and used the number of airstrikes mainly on the periphery of the country borders. Although the Islamic State was defeated last year, U.S. troops will stay there to make sure that Islamic militants will not return.
The U.S. led coalition is siding with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The 30,000 troops would be placed along the border with Turkey and Iraq on one side and along the Euphrates River within Syria on the other. This will separate the territory controlled by SDF from the territory controlled by the Syrian government.
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