Washington’s Border Security Force Plan Draws Rebuke

Turkey, Russia and the Syrian government on Monday denounced Washington’s plan to establish a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border security force in Syria, the Associated Press reported.

The condemnation came one day after the U.S.-led coalition said it has started recruiting and training border security guards who will be deployed at the borders of a region controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria.

“The United States has admitted that it has created a terrorist force along our country’s border. Our duty is to drown this army of terror before it is born,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, according to the AP.

Russia, a main backer of the Syrian government, said that plans for a border force served as an indication that the U.S. “doesn’t want to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria,” the AP reported.

The Syrian government also denounced the plan for a border force, calling it “a blatant encroachment upon the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria.”

In a statement sent to the AP, the coalition said that the border security force will prevent an ISIS resurgence by prohibiting the militants’ freedom of movement and preventing them from transporting illicit material.

Fawza Youssef, a senior Kurdish politician, told Reuters on Monday that the U.S.-backed border force will help protect Kurdish-held regions in Syria from threats by Turkey and the Syrian government.

“There are threats from the Turkish state. The regime also more than once declared (it would) attack,” said Youssef. “To prevent any attack … there must be a deterrent force that protects the border between our areas and the others,” she added.

Turkey Boosts Deployment Along Syria Border

Turkey has dispatched reinforcements to its southern border with Syria, Al Jazeera reported on Monday, citing Turkish state media.

The military build-up comes one day after President Erdogan said that his country would launch a military offensive in the Kurdish-held region of Afrin in northern Syria in the coming days.

Citing the state-run Anadolu Agency, Al Jazeera said that two dozen armored vehicles entered the Reyhanli district of southeastern Hatay province, which lies adjacent to Syrian territory. Another convoy of some 20 vehicles, including tanks, crossed into the Viransehir district of southeastern Sanliurfa province, Al Jazeera said.

According to Anadolu, the reinforcements were sent to support Turkish forces already stationed along Syria’s border, Al Jazeera said.

Meanwhile, President Erdogan said Monday that preparations for an operation in Afrin were complete, adding that it could start at any moment.

“The Turkish Armed Forces will resolve the Afrin and Manbij issue as soon as possible. Our preparations are finalized, an operation may start at any moment,” he was quoted as saying by the Turkish Yeni Safak daily newspaper.

FSA Working to Revive CIA Aid Program

Representatives of the Free Syrian Army rebel group are working to revive a CIA program of military aid that was suspended by U.S. president Donald Trump last year, Reuters reported on Monday.

An FSA delegation in Washington has spoken to U.S. officials, including members of the U.S. Congress and officials from the White House, about the dangers of leaving Syrian rebels without support in the face of growing Iranian influence in Syria, Reuters reported, citing opposition sources.

“With every U.S. statement about the need to confront Iran’s influence, Iran has been expanding in Syria while moderate forces that are backed by Washington see aid being dried up and are weakened,” Mustafa Sejari, a senior official in Syria’s mainstream rebel group, told Reuters by telephone from Washington.

“We asked for the resumption of aid and explained the dangers of leaving moderate FSA forces without support.”

Trump scrapped the military aid program because he wanted to focus on the battle against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and improve relations with government backer, Russia, Reuters said.

Recommended Reads

• The Guardian: ‘We Will Get Him’: The Long Hunt for Isis Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
• The Wall Street Journal: Saber-Rattling in Syria
• Middle East Eye: 2018: A Year of Many Challenges for Putin in the Middle East
• The New Arab: Syrian Rebel Losses Do Not Mean Victory for Assad
• Al-Monitor: Is Turkey Aligned With Al-Qaida Affiliate in Idlib?