US Central Command on Friday said American troops have paused all of the joint operations with the Kurdish-led so-called Syrian Democratic Forces claimed to be against Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) in Syria. The Pentagon had claimed Thursday they were ongoing but reduced, ABC reported.
“The SDF continues to conduct patrols and maintain security at the al-Hol displaced persons camp and the detention facilities, prisons," said Army Col. Joe Buccino, the Central Command spokesman.
Turkey has launched a barrage of airstrikes on suspected militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also threatened a ground incursion, without specifying when it would be launched.
The US military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at fighting against Daesh and preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists. Damascus, however, maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources.
Former US president Donald Trump admitted on more than one occasion that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil.