WASHINGTON — US troops are steering away from the combat between Islamist opposition factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and forces aligned with the federal government of President Bashar al-Assad in northwest Syria, Pentagon officers stated on Monday. That, regardless of advances by the rebels in additionally driving out native Kurdish-led forces from key pockets in Tel Rifaat and Aleppo.
“Let me be clear that the US is on no account concerned within the operations you see enjoying out in and round Aleppo in northwestern Syria,” Defense Department press secretary US Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder advised a bunch of reporters on Monday.
“We’re clearly monitoring the scenario, which is on the opposite facet of Syria,” Ryder underscored.
Why it issues: The Biden administration has denied any involvement with HTS’ shock offensive, which noticed the rebels seize Syria’s second metropolis, Aleppo, for the primary time since 2016, marking a surprising upset for the Assad regime.
The United States considers HTS to be a terrorist group. The Biden administration has additionally sustained a punishing marketing campaign of financial sanctions on Damascus, though Washington formally eschewed any ambitions of ousting Assad by way of navy motion throughout the Obama administration.
A vestigial contingent of a number of hundred US troops continues to help Syria’s Kurdish-led alliance, formally referred to as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), within the nation’s far east-northeast nook close to the border with Iraq — a part of a shared mission to stop the return of the Islamic State group.
In a press assertion launched over the weekend, the White House stated it’s working with regional governments and allies to induce “de-escalation, safety of civilians and minority teams, and a severe and credible political course of that may finish this civil battle as soon as and for all.”
HTS’ offensive dangers scrambling long-stalemated frontlines dividing Syria right into a patchwork of statelets and will doubtlessly open up a vacuum for extra excessive ideological teams to take advantage of, ought to the opposition forces grow to be overstretched.
US nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan supplied an ambivalent tackle the Sunday talk-show circuit, expressing concern about HTS’ meant targets whereas additionally noting that administration officers “don’t cry over the truth that the Assad authorities — backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah — is going through sure sorts of strain.”
Mixed messages: So far Washington has made no indication it intends to defend its Syrian Kurdish-led companions. The US navy equally stood down in 2018 amid a Turkish-led offensive into the majority-Kurdish ethnic enclave of Afrin, and once more in 2019 amid one other Turkish-led Syrian insurgent incursion to grab border areas between and Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.
Washington’s delayed response to HTS’ offensive has raised issues amongst Kurdish management that the United States could as soon as once more be abandoning them amid what they’ve publicly decried as a brand new land-grab by Turkey and its proxies. Unlike these territories, nevertheless, the demographics in Tel Rifaat and Aleppo are extra ethnically numerous and thus much less centrally vital to the Kurdish undertaking.
Among the areas doubtlessly within the crosshairs of Turkey-backed opposition militias is town of Manbij, which lies simply west of the Euphrates. Until this previous weekend, town had marked the frontier between the US- and SDF-controlled northeast and pockets of territory additional west managed collectively by Kurdish fighters and Kurdish pro-Assad forces. It is these latter areas which have since been seized by Islamist opposition factions amid their breakout offensive.
American patrols largely withdrew from Manbij after an aborted US try at withdrawal in late 2019, which was first ordered after which reversed by then-President Donald Trump. The transfer enabled Russian troops to circulation into town in coordination with Kurdish forces there.
Yet Russia, whose navy largely stays slowed down within the Ukraine battle, could also be pushed to defend extra strategic sectors of Syria if HTS’ offensive continues unabated.
Opposition fighters have reportedly reached Ma’arat an-Nu’man and the outskirts of Hama. If they’ll consolidate management of these areas, it might put them inside roughly 90 miles of the Kremlin’s strategic naval facility at Tartous, and an excellent nearer to Russia’s key air base at Hmeimim.
That has raised eyebrows in Washington over how far Ankara could also be prepared to permit issues to go and what Russia’s navy intends to do in response. Russian plane continued to pummel populated areas of Aleppo on Monday amid anticipation of a coming counterattack.
Concerns over the quickly shifting battlefield led Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Leahy — the newly sworn-in prime commander of US-led forces in Iraq and Syria — to faucet a devoted telephone line linking him to Russia’s prime commander in Syria, Sergei Kisel, looking for solutions.
“We have that communication mechanism to stop potential miscalculation,” Ryder advised reporters on Monday, noting that American troops in Syria stay poised to defend themselves.
Neither the Kremlin nor US officers confirmed stories on Monday that Kisel has been relieved of responsibility.
Kurds elevate alarm: The SDF declared a normal mobilization on Sunday in response to the menace HTS’ advance poses to the enclaves it controls throughout the nation’s north.
“For the previous few days, our fighters, whether or not on the Manbij entrance or on the west facet of the Euphrates, have been combating in opposition to these assaults,” the SDF stated in a press launch. The Kurdish-led alliance referred to as on Syrians of all ethnic and spiritual teams to “stand shoulder-to-shoulder” and “be a part of the ranks of the SDF” in opposition to the Islamist fighters’ advances.
A video launched on Telegram on Monday purported to point out Syrian Arab fighters mocking members of what seemed to be an SDF convoy allegedly leaving Sheikh Maqsoud as a part of an settlement between the 2 sides. (Authenticity of the video has not been confirmed.)
“We’re centered on the defeat ISIS mission due to the safety vacuum that has been created by this ongoing civil battle,” Pentagon spokesman Ryder advised reporters on Monday.
“That is why US forces deployed to the area: to counter ISIS. That’s what we keep centered on, additionally recognizing the truth that the Syrian regime has vital challenges proper now when it comes to their very own safety and stability,” he stated.
Thus far, there’s additionally been no signal of US strikes to interdict the reported motion of Iran-backed militias throughout Iraq’s western border to bolster the Syrian regime.
The US navy preemptively struck militia forces in japanese Syria to thwart an “imminent menace” focusing on Mission Support Site-Euphrates on the al-Omar oil subject — Syria’s largest — on Nov. 29, Pentagon officers confirmed Monday.
That strike was “utterly unrelated” to the scenario unfolding Syria’s far northwest, Ryder advised reporters.
