US goes for long-term military presence in Syria

Hend Ahmed

The US has hinted to its desire to maintain an indefinite presence in Syria as part of a strategy to prevent the reemergence of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the country.

The US is also paving the road for the overthrow of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, and reining in Iranian influence in Syria.

US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said at Stanford University on Thursday that full American withdrawal from Syria would open the door for the Syrian regime to go ahead with what he described as its “brutal rule”.

Maintaining an American military presence in Syria, he added, would basically serve US national security.

He said the US would not allow past mistakes to be repeated.

Tillerson said the US administration would depend more on diplomacy in the days to come.

Nonetheless, he said, the US needed to be clear on the need for maintaining military presence in Syria to ensure that ISIS would not return to the country.

The US-led international coalition had previously announced a plan to form a border protection force of 30,000 troops to be led by what is known as the Democratic Syria Force.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry reacted by saying that it would consider the US military presence on Syrian territory a military aggression against Syria, a violation of the sovereignty of the country and a violation of international laws.

The ministry also vowed to liberate Syria of all forms of foreign military presence.

Turkey said, at the same time, that the US played with fire.

It faulted the US administration in trying to form a border protection force that included Kurdish factions.

Deputy Turkish Prime Minister, Bekir Bozdag, said on Monday that his country rejected the presence of Kurdish factions within the planned force.

Turkey considers the Kurdish people protection units that will participate in the force as “terrorist” groups.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the US was jeopardizing Turkish national security and the integrity of Syrian territories by going ahead with its plan to form the force.