(Zaman Al Wasl)- Well-informed sources said the newly US-formed border force will depend on Arab fighters not only the the Kurdish militias where the forces of 30,000 personnel will be deployed along the border with Iraq and Turkey.
Most of the fighters will be recruited from the northeastern Syria where the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are operating.
The US-led coalition said Sunday is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force, such a move that has added to Turkish anger over U.S. support for Kurdish-dominated forces in Syria.
The force will deploy along the border with Turkey to the north, the Iraqi border to the southeast, and along the Euphrates River Valley, which broadly acts as the dividing line separating the U.S.-backed SDF and Syrian government forces backed by Iran and Russia.
A senior Turkish official told Reuters the U.S. training of the new "Border Security Force" is the reason that the U.S. charge d'affaires was summoned in Ankara on Wednesday.
The official did not elaborate.
The force, whose inaugural class is currently being trained, will be deployed at the borders of the area controlled by the SDF - an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG.
In an email to Reuters, the coalition's Public Affairs Office confirmed details of the new force reported by The Defense Post. About half the force will be SDF veterans, and recruiting for the other half is underway, the coalition's Public Affairs Office said.
U.S. support for the SDF has put enormous strain on ties with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - a group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.
The US officials asserted that Arab fighters will take more influence in their areas along the Euphrates River. Urgeing the SDF to abide by this order, according to the source.
Syria's main Kurdish groups have emerged as one of the few winners of the Syrian war, and are working to entrench their autonomy over swathes of northern Syria.
Washington opposes those autonomy plans, even as it has backed the SDF, the main partner for the U.S.-led coalition against Daesh (ISIS) in Syria.
The coalition said the BSF would operate under SDF command and around 230 individuals were currently undergoing training in its inaugural class.
"Efforts are taken to ensure individuals serve in areas close to their homes. Therefore, the ethnic composition of the force will be relative to the areas in which they serve.
"More Kurds will serve in the areas in northern Syria. More Arabs will serve in areas along the Euphrates River Valley and along the border with Iraq to the south," the coalition's Public Affairs Office said.
"The base of the new force is essentially a realignment of approximately 15,000 members of the SDF to a new mission in the Border Security Force as their actions against ISIS draw to a close," it said.
"They will be providing border security through professionally securing checkpoints and conducting counter-IED operations," it said, adding that coalition and SDF forces were still engaging Daesh pockets in Deir al-Zor province.
The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Daesh, and has said it is prepared to stay in the country until it is certain Daesh is defeated, that stabilization efforts can be sustained, and there is meaningful progress in U.N.-led peace talks on ending the conflict.
The Syrian government in Damascus has declared the United States an illegal occupation force, and its SDF allies as "traitors." A top Syrian Kurdish politician told Reuters last week the United States appeared in no hurry to leave Syria. (With Agencies)
Zaman A Wasl
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