Assad wants American troops out of Syria and threatens to attack

Military Times is reporting Syrian President Bashar Assad has threatened to attack a region held by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, saying in an interview broadcast on Russia Today channel on Thursday that American troops should leave the country.

The remarks reflect that despite pressure on multiple fronts, Assad is seeking to consolidate control after seven years of civil war.

With military backing from Russia and Iran, he has reclaimed most of the territory lost to rebels in the wake of the popular uprising that swept the country in 2011, and quickly descended into all-out civil war. But large areas remain beyond his control, including the expansive region north of the Euphrates River that is administered by the Syrian Kurds.

Speaking to the Russian channel, Assad said he has opened the door to negotiations with the Kurdish-run administration while also preparing to “liberate by force.”

Forces loyal to Assad and the Syrian Kurds have clashed sporadically over the eastern oil province of Deir el-Zour. Last year, they led rival campaigns against the Islamic State group, and maintain a protracted front against each other along the Euphrates.

The United States, which supports the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, operates air bases and outposts in the Kurdish-administered region. “The Americans should leave,” Assad said. “Somehow, they are going to leave.”

The U.S. has had a military presence in the country since early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern Syria. The number of these mostly special operations forces in Syria had grown to around 500.

Hundreds more Marines arrived in Syria to provide artillery support to U.S.-backed Syrian rebels to retake Raqqa, ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria.

Army Rangers operate in Manbij to essentially act as a visible presence to prevent the Turkish military and Kurdish forces from fighting each other in the city retaken from ISIS months ago, the officials said, bringing the total number of US military personnel to about 2000.

The U.S. has conducted over 7,800 airstrikes in Syria as of March 28, according to the Department of Defense.

Also, a senior U.S. general has confirmed that hundreds of Russians fought – and died – in a major battle against American forces and their local counterparts in Syria.

The skirmish occurred on Feb. 7, 2018 when forces aligned with Syria’s dictator Bashar Al Assad, backed by Russian mercenaries from a shadowy company called Wagner, which were under the direct control of the Kremlin, launched an attack on U.S. forces and members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a predominately Kurdish group, in eastern Syria. The opposing force consisted of tanks and heavy artillery.

After a massive American counter-attack involving air and artillery strikes beat back the opposing troops, reports emerged afterwards suggesting that as many as 200 Russians had died in the engagement.

I don’t think Assad’s Russian allies have any intentions of going head to head against the US presence in Syria, so he’d have to go it alone. Good luck with that.

Category: Syria