US special forces have been deployed into the Kurdish-held northern Syrian city of Tel Abyad, along the border between Syria and Turkey in recent days. The deployment was not announced by the Pentagon, but revealed by the Kurdish YPG.
The Pentagon still hasn’t directly commented on the matter, though Central Command said that US special forces would be deployed “wherever they are needed to defeat ISIS in Syria.” Of course, Tel Abyad isn’t all that close to ISIS fighting.
Rather, the US presence is likely related to it being on he border with Turkey, and increased fighting between the YPG and Turkish forces further west in Afrin in recent days. Kurdish forces are claiming Turkey intends to try to take Tel Abyad to cut the supply route from Kobane to Qamshli.
Back in April the US made a similar deployment along the border to try to get in between Turkish and Kurdish forces and limit their ability to directly fight. With tensions on the rise, this is likely the most reasonable explanation for the Tel Abyad deployment.
Sooner or later, US soldiers will die in one of these occasional exchanges of artillery fire, or all of them will be wiped out when Turkey moves decisively against the Kurds. Would the US really declare war on Turkey? Probably not, and Turkey knows it.