US troops join Turkey’s along Syria border

US Special Forces are accompanying Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army fighters along the Turkish border near Jarabulus and Cobanbey in Syria, the Pentagon told the Anadolu Agency yesterday.

The move came “at the request of the government of Turkey”, according to agency spokesman Capain. Jeff Davis.

“US personnel operating with Turkish forces and Syrian opposition forces will provide the same train, advise and assist support they have been providing to other local partners in Syria fighting ISIL,” Davis wrote in an email using an alternative name for Daesh.

The new development comes as the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish artillery earlier in the day, began to move toward Daesh’s stronghold Al-Bab, nearly 30 kilometres south of Cobanbey as a part of “Operation Euphrates Shield”.

“Operation Euphrates Shield” was launched 24 August by Ankara and aims at improving security, supporting coalition forces and eliminating the terror threat along Turkey’s border using Free Syrian Army fighters backed by Turkish armour, artillery and jets.

The Syrian town of Cobanbey and Jarabulus city were recently cleared of Daesh terrorists as part of the operation.

Davis said the US would continue to support the counter-Daesh fight in northern Syria because “access to the Syria-Turkey border region is strategically important to ISIL’s operations in Syria and Iraq as well as the group’s attempts to export terror to Turkey, the wider region, Europe and the United States.”

“Denying ISIL access to this critical border cuts off critical supply routes in and out of Iraq and Syria and further isolates ISIL’s so-called ‘capital’ in Raqqa,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Turkish General Staff released a statement about “Operation Euphrates Shield”, saying artillery had hit 26 Daesh targets.

The statement also confirmed that US special operations forces accompanied Turkish troops in Cobanbey.