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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

US Forces Still Patrolling Syrian Border

U.S. military forces patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey on Thursday in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area this month.

QAHTANIYAH, Syria (AFP) — U.S. military forces patrolled part of Syria's border with Turkey on Thursday in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area this month.

Five armored vehicles bearing U.S. flags patrolled a strip of the frontier north of the town of Qahtaniyah, where regime forces were expected to deploy as part of a deal with Turkey. The patrol was accompanied by Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main U.S. ally in the years-long battle against the Islamic State group.

U.S. forces used to patrol the section of border north of Qahtaniyah before Washington announced its pullback on Oct. 6.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it is part of an eastern stretch of the frontier where U.S. forces are seeking to maintain a presence.

"They want to prevent Russia and the regime from reaching parts of the border that lie east of the city of Qamishli," the de facto capital of Syria's Kurdish minority, Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said.

The patrol follows the arrival of U.S. reinforcements in Syria from neighboring Iraq in recent days, in what has been seen as a reversal of President Donald Trump's pullout order.

Washington has begun reinforcing positions in Deir Ezzor province with extra military assets in coordination with the SDF to prevent the Islamic State group and others from gaining access to oilfields in the area, a U.S. defense official said.

The Turkish army and its Syrian proxies launched an offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria on Oct. 9 with the aim of creating a buffer zone.

The invasion left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands, prompting Ankara and Moscow to hold a summit in Sochi.

Under the deal signed in the Russian Black Sea resort, Turkey is to assume control over one 75-mile wide section in the center of the border, while Syrian government forces are to deploy in sections to the east and west.

ong the whole length of the border, a 6-mile-deep buffer zone is to be created on the Syrian side which will be jointly patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops.

© Agence France-Presse

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