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http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/us-general-russia-inadvertently-struck-us-backed-syrians
WASHINGTON — A Russian airstrike in northern Syria hit U.S.-backed Syrian Arab forces who are part of the fight against the Islamic State group, a senior U.S. general said Wednesday.
Russia denied responsibility, saying in a written statement that it had adhered to U.S. guidance on avoiding friendly forces in that area.
Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, said an unspecified number of American military advisers were a few miles away from the bombed site, out of immediate danger but close enough to see their Syrian partners get hit. He declined to say how many of the U.S.-backed Syrian fighters were killed or wounded.
Townsend said the Americans sent word that quickly reached Russian officials, who acknowledged the problem and stopped the bombing. Townsend, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, said he believes the Russians thought they were striking Islamic State positions in the village. But ISIS fighters had withdrawn before the bombing, and members of what the Americans call the Syrian Arab Coalition had moved in, he said.
In Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement contradicting Townsend's version of the events. It said that in communications prior to the airstrike, a U.S. officer had expressed concern about the possibility of U.S.-backed Syrian fighters being struck inadvertently.
"To prevent any such incidents, a U.S. representative gave precise coordinates of the U.S.-backed opposition forces in that area to a Russian military officer," the statement said. "The Russian military command took that information into account. Russian or Syrian aircraft haven't dealt a single strike on the areas designated by the U.S."
The incident happened southeast of the city of al-Bab, which Townsend said has been fully "liberated" by Turkish forces.
Townsend mentioned the incident to illustrate his point that the battlefield in Syria is exceptionally complex. He expressed worry that the complexities could lead to more severe miscalculations and undercut an anti-IS military campaign that is approaching a crucial juncture as U.S.-backed Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters close in on Raqqa, the self-declared ISIS capital.
Townsend said the U.S. is still talking to Turkey about whether and how Turkish forces might be involved in an assault on Raqqa. The issue is a sticky one because the Turks are opposed to the U.S. relying on Syrian Kurdish fighters in and around Raqqa; the Turks consider the Kurdish force known as YPG to be terrorists and a threat to Turkey.
Russia's military involvement is a further complication, from the U.S. point of view. It's unclear whether President Donald Trump will seek military coordination with Russia in Syria; his predecessor deemed it inappropriate, arguing that the Russians were at cross purposes with the U.S. by acting to prop up the Syrian government.
Townsend did not comment on relations with Russian other than to mention that a U.S.-Russian military communications link set up during the Obama administration was used in response to the airstrikes that hit U.S. partner forces Tuesday. The link was established to "deconflict," or avoid collisions between U.S. and Russian warplanes over Syria.
"We used that mechanism and it worked," Townsend said.
More broadly, the general said he is satisfied that the U.S. counter-IS strategy as developed during the Obama years is working. He said he has forwarded up his chain of command a set of recommendations on possible adaptions of the strategy, but he would not discuss those. He suggested that no major changes were needed and explicitly stated that sending large numbers of U.S. troops, as Trump proposed during the presidential campaign, would not help.
"I don't foresee us bringing in large numbers of coalition troops, mainly because what we're doing is in fact working," he said. "But in the event that we bring in any additional troops, we'll work with our local partners both here in Iraq and Syria to make sure that they understand the reasons why we're doing that and to get their buy-in of that."
Others have said the Trump administration might seek to accelerate the assault on Raqqa by putting additional U.S. trainers and advisers into Syria and possibly sending small numbers of conventional forces to operate long-range artillery.
Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sent to the White House his outline of how the administration might change the counter-ISIS strategy, which relies heavily on airstrikes and has evolved since President Barack Obama reintroduced troops into Iraq in 2014 after IS fighters swept across the Syrian border and captured large portions of northern and western Iraq.
Townsend said U.S. intelligence estimates put the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria combined at 12,000 to 15,000. That is down from an estimate of 19,000 to 25,000 in February 2016 and 20,000 to 31,000 in 2014.
A Kurdish fighter from the People's Protection Units, operating alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the town of Hisha after the SDF took control of the area from ISIS, in the northern Raqqa countryside, Syria, November 14, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-commander-downplays-big-iraq-syria-troop-hike-2017-3
Trump's push against Islamic State in Syria could soon present him with an unenviable choice of potentially alienating NATO ally Turkey by relying on the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which in addition to Arabs includes Kurdish YPG fighters who Turkey considers a threat.
Turkey is strongly opposed to YPG involvement in the operation to liberate Raqqa, not only because it sees the force as an extension of the PKK militant group, but also because it says Raqqa is an Arab-dominated city.
Townsend, however, stressed they would have some role in the campaign.
"There are going to be Kurds assaulting Raqqa for sure. The number, the size of them, and how many Kurdish units are participating in that, I can't really say right now," he said.
Townsend also delivered a robust defense of the YPG fighters who receive U.S. support, saying he had seen no evidence linking them to attacks on Turkey from Northern Syria in the past two years.
"I've talked to their leaders and we've watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey," Townsend said.
********
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syrian-army-deserter-flees-to-turkey/762354
A member of the Syrian regime army deserted and fled to Turkey on Thursday, security sources have said.
The soldier was found in the southern Turkish border province of Hatay, a security source told Anadolu Agency.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldier had surrendered to Turkish border troops.
After an initial interrogation, in which he claimed to have been forcibly conscripted into the Syrian military, he was handed over to Turkish police.
**************
Speaking to reporters via video link from Baghdad, Iraq, Gen. Stephen Townsend said "Kurds will participate in the operation."
"The facts are there are Kurds from Raqqah, and larger Raqqah district and province," he said.
"I don't think we're going to change the demographics of Raqqah by Kurds or Turkomen or any group participating in the operation. But I expect that probably all types of Syrians in northern Syria will participate in the liberation of Raqqah," he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighters could lead the Raqqah offensive.
Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed PKK group. Turkey, the U.S., and EU have designated the PKK as a terror group, and it resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.
Washington has refrained from similarly labeling the YPG, and has relied on the group as its principal on the ground partner in Syria to Ankara's consternation.
Seeking to allay Turkish concerns about the YPG, Townsend said he's been assured by the group's leaders that "they have no desire to attack Turkey."
"They desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey and I have seen absolutely zero evidence that they have been a threat to or supported any attacks on Turkey from northern Syria over the last two years," he said.
The YPG forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria where the SDF has ousted Deash from successive towns and villages with coalition's heavy war equipment, air support, training and advisors.
Townsend said he believes the SDF will lead the Raqqah operation, but stressed that no final decision has been made.
If the SDF is to lead to lead the charge, Townsend said they "will probably need additional combat power".
"But those decisions have yet to be taken,” he said.
Responding to claims that pictures posted by U.S. Central Command (Centcom) depict child soldiers in the ranks of the SDF, Townsend maintained that the coalition does not "allow child fighters, underage fighters".
And as the general was speaking to reporters, Centcom wrote on Twitter that "All partner nation trainees are vetted through an interview process, including age."
"Those not willing to provide assurances to this vetting process are disqualified," the Middle East command added.
Townsend confirmed that Russian and Syrian airstrikes hit Arab components of the SDF on Tuesday outside of al-Bab, the city Turkish-backed forces recently liberated from Daesh in northern Syria.
The aircraft thought the areas "were held by ISIS", but Syrian Arab fighters that are part of the SDF had recently moved into the targeted villages that were recently vacated by Daesh, Townsend said.
The American general did not detail casualties beyond confirming that some had occurred before the air raids were halted through a U.S.-Russian channel meant to prevent accidental clashes.
U.S. forces were about five kilometers away, Townsend said.
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
WASHINGTON — A Russian airstrike in northern Syria hit U.S.-backed Syrian Arab forces who are part of the fight against the Islamic State group, a senior U.S. general said Wednesday.
Russia denied responsibility, saying in a written statement that it had adhered to U.S. guidance on avoiding friendly forces in that area.
Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, said an unspecified number of American military advisers were a few miles away from the bombed site, out of immediate danger but close enough to see their Syrian partners get hit. He declined to say how many of the U.S.-backed Syrian fighters were killed or wounded.
Townsend said the Americans sent word that quickly reached Russian officials, who acknowledged the problem and stopped the bombing. Townsend, who spoke to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters in Baghdad, said he believes the Russians thought they were striking Islamic State positions in the village. But ISIS fighters had withdrawn before the bombing, and members of what the Americans call the Syrian Arab Coalition had moved in, he said.
In Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement contradicting Townsend's version of the events. It said that in communications prior to the airstrike, a U.S. officer had expressed concern about the possibility of U.S.-backed Syrian fighters being struck inadvertently.
"To prevent any such incidents, a U.S. representative gave precise coordinates of the U.S.-backed opposition forces in that area to a Russian military officer," the statement said. "The Russian military command took that information into account. Russian or Syrian aircraft haven't dealt a single strike on the areas designated by the U.S."
The incident happened southeast of the city of al-Bab, which Townsend said has been fully "liberated" by Turkish forces.
Townsend mentioned the incident to illustrate his point that the battlefield in Syria is exceptionally complex. He expressed worry that the complexities could lead to more severe miscalculations and undercut an anti-IS military campaign that is approaching a crucial juncture as U.S.-backed Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters close in on Raqqa, the self-declared ISIS capital.
Townsend said the U.S. is still talking to Turkey about whether and how Turkish forces might be involved in an assault on Raqqa. The issue is a sticky one because the Turks are opposed to the U.S. relying on Syrian Kurdish fighters in and around Raqqa; the Turks consider the Kurdish force known as YPG to be terrorists and a threat to Turkey.
Russia's military involvement is a further complication, from the U.S. point of view. It's unclear whether President Donald Trump will seek military coordination with Russia in Syria; his predecessor deemed it inappropriate, arguing that the Russians were at cross purposes with the U.S. by acting to prop up the Syrian government.
Townsend did not comment on relations with Russian other than to mention that a U.S.-Russian military communications link set up during the Obama administration was used in response to the airstrikes that hit U.S. partner forces Tuesday. The link was established to "deconflict," or avoid collisions between U.S. and Russian warplanes over Syria.
"We used that mechanism and it worked," Townsend said.
More broadly, the general said he is satisfied that the U.S. counter-IS strategy as developed during the Obama years is working. He said he has forwarded up his chain of command a set of recommendations on possible adaptions of the strategy, but he would not discuss those. He suggested that no major changes were needed and explicitly stated that sending large numbers of U.S. troops, as Trump proposed during the presidential campaign, would not help.
"I don't foresee us bringing in large numbers of coalition troops, mainly because what we're doing is in fact working," he said. "But in the event that we bring in any additional troops, we'll work with our local partners both here in Iraq and Syria to make sure that they understand the reasons why we're doing that and to get their buy-in of that."
Others have said the Trump administration might seek to accelerate the assault on Raqqa by putting additional U.S. trainers and advisers into Syria and possibly sending small numbers of conventional forces to operate long-range artillery.
Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sent to the White House his outline of how the administration might change the counter-ISIS strategy, which relies heavily on airstrikes and has evolved since President Barack Obama reintroduced troops into Iraq in 2014 after IS fighters swept across the Syrian border and captured large portions of northern and western Iraq.
Townsend said U.S. intelligence estimates put the number of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria combined at 12,000 to 15,000. That is down from an estimate of 19,000 to 25,000 in February 2016 and 20,000 to 31,000 in 2014.
A Kurdish fighter from the People's Protection Units, operating alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the town of Hisha after the SDF took control of the area from ISIS, in the northern Raqqa countryside, Syria, November 14, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-commander-downplays-big-iraq-syria-troop-hike-2017-3
Trump's push against Islamic State in Syria could soon present him with an unenviable choice of potentially alienating NATO ally Turkey by relying on the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which in addition to Arabs includes Kurdish YPG fighters who Turkey considers a threat.
Turkey is strongly opposed to YPG involvement in the operation to liberate Raqqa, not only because it sees the force as an extension of the PKK militant group, but also because it says Raqqa is an Arab-dominated city.
Townsend, however, stressed they would have some role in the campaign.
"There are going to be Kurds assaulting Raqqa for sure. The number, the size of them, and how many Kurdish units are participating in that, I can't really say right now," he said.
Townsend also delivered a robust defense of the YPG fighters who receive U.S. support, saying he had seen no evidence linking them to attacks on Turkey from Northern Syria in the past two years.
"I've talked to their leaders and we've watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey," Townsend said.
********
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syrian-army-deserter-flees-to-turkey/762354
A member of the Syrian regime army deserted and fled to Turkey on Thursday, security sources have said.
The soldier was found in the southern Turkish border province of Hatay, a security source told Anadolu Agency.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the soldier had surrendered to Turkish border troops.
After an initial interrogation, in which he claimed to have been forcibly conscripted into the Syrian military, he was handed over to Turkish police.
**************
Speaking to reporters via video link from Baghdad, Iraq, Gen. Stephen Townsend said "Kurds will participate in the operation."
"The facts are there are Kurds from Raqqah, and larger Raqqah district and province," he said.
"I don't think we're going to change the demographics of Raqqah by Kurds or Turkomen or any group participating in the operation. But I expect that probably all types of Syrians in northern Syria will participate in the liberation of Raqqah," he added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighters could lead the Raqqah offensive.
Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed PKK group. Turkey, the U.S., and EU have designated the PKK as a terror group, and it resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.
Washington has refrained from similarly labeling the YPG, and has relied on the group as its principal on the ground partner in Syria to Ankara's consternation.
Seeking to allay Turkish concerns about the YPG, Townsend said he's been assured by the group's leaders that "they have no desire to attack Turkey."
"They desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey and I have seen absolutely zero evidence that they have been a threat to or supported any attacks on Turkey from northern Syria over the last two years," he said.
The YPG forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria where the SDF has ousted Deash from successive towns and villages with coalition's heavy war equipment, air support, training and advisors.
Townsend said he believes the SDF will lead the Raqqah operation, but stressed that no final decision has been made.
If the SDF is to lead to lead the charge, Townsend said they "will probably need additional combat power".
"But those decisions have yet to be taken,” he said.
Responding to claims that pictures posted by U.S. Central Command (Centcom) depict child soldiers in the ranks of the SDF, Townsend maintained that the coalition does not "allow child fighters, underage fighters".
And as the general was speaking to reporters, Centcom wrote on Twitter that "All partner nation trainees are vetted through an interview process, including age."
"Those not willing to provide assurances to this vetting process are disqualified," the Middle East command added.
Townsend confirmed that Russian and Syrian airstrikes hit Arab components of the SDF on Tuesday outside of al-Bab, the city Turkish-backed forces recently liberated from Daesh in northern Syria.
The aircraft thought the areas "were held by ISIS", but Syrian Arab fighters that are part of the SDF had recently moved into the targeted villages that were recently vacated by Daesh, Townsend said.
The American general did not detail casualties beyond confirming that some had occurred before the air raids were halted through a U.S.-Russian channel meant to prevent accidental clashes.
U.S. forces were about five kilometers away, Townsend said.
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
ALEPPO, SYRIA - MARCH 1: Members of Free Syrian Army (FSA) are seen in Tel Tuveyran after retaking Tel Tuveyran and Kaarat villages of Al Bab town from PYD/ PKK terrorist organizations in Aleppo, Syria on March 1, 2017. ( Muhammed Nour - Anadolu Agency )
