Syrian state media has reported an incident in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor Province where three US soldiers and five Kurdish SDF were wounded when they were ambushed by an as-yet unknown militant force.
The US and Kurdish forces were on a joint patrol as a convoy and were ambushed just outside of a village. It’s not at all clear who the attackers were or why they targeted the convoy. If they were targeting the SDF primarily, it would be likely they were Turkish-backed rebels.
The US presence in Syria is limited to the far east of the country, where they are claiming a single oilfield. President Trump has insisted that taking the oil is the sum total of US military priorities in Syria, though clearly they are also having joint patrols.
The US has potential enemies in the country too, Islamist groups that they were fighting earlier in the war and also other factions that would like to have that oil.
BRING THEM HOME!
President Trump is one of our greatest presidents ever But we have no legitimate reason to be in Syria . Taking Syria’s oil is not a good reason . Assad needs his oil to rebuild his country . I have to agree with JP McEvoy bring our boys and money home
Trump wouldn’t be the greatest president ever if we had only two presidents in our entire history.
There are few errors in this text, and some wild speculation.
In addition to oil field in Deir Ezzor, US is sitting on oil field in the north-west of the country, on Iraqi border.
Neither of the oil wells is in the condition to generate profit without extensive repairs. So what is the REAL reason for staying there?
In the north-west, it is an area adjacent to Iraqi Kurds and close to Turkish border — a convenient region for getting Turkish PPK to Iraq. Russian-Turkish patrols do not go past Qamishli.
Why is significant? Because weaponizing Turkish Kurds has not stopped. US has supported PKK in Iraq against Peshmerga who fell out of favor.
It is not the oil well we care about — but the control of the border.
In the East — Deir Ezzor, the same deal. Control of Iraq-Syria and Iraq-Jordan borders.
SDF exists? Now that both of their population centers are under Turkish (Afrin) and Syrian (Kobane) control — there is no population based Kurdish force. These are US mercenaries.
THERE ARE NO TURKISH BACKED REBELS IN THIS AREA.
Why does US still control Al-Tanf base on Jordanian border? There is still a camp there that used to house refugees. Only ISIS and another weird group is still there — assuming on US payroll.
Israel keeps on bombing Iraqi-Syria border regularly killing Iraqi border guards looking for mythical Iranians. In reality keeping the border open for US import/export of militants from/to Iraq and Syria.
I doubt Trump knows nothing of it. If Israel does not want US to disengage from Syria — US will keep its tripwires. For future meddling opportunities.
I suspect this will last until Idlib is free from Western supported HTS and their funding arm — White Helmets.
It will happen after most militant groups cross over to Turkish support. HTS is already pulling desperate moves. They are trying to provoke Syrian Army and get Turkish forces in the line of fire — tried few times already.
Once HTS dissolves— focus will go back to north-east to plug the PKK transit route.
But by that time constitutional assembly will be se to proceed — as there will be no more US or UK controlled groups to throw monkey wrench into the works.
Deir Ezzor, Al-Tanf and Israel can wait. If anybody attacked “joint patrol” it would be frustrated locals who have no access to markets in now pretty much liberated Syria. The Arab population cannot accept any Kurdish overlords — they had enough of it in the name of fighting ISIS,