Saudi Arabia, US to back formation of SDF-affiliated Arab forces

Saudi and American officials have held talks in Syria’s north-eastern province of Al-Hasakah on Riyadh potentially financing Arab forces backed by the United States (US) and affiliated to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), local sources reported yesterday.

The sources told Arabi21 that the US support had come under the pretext of “resisting the Iranian expansion attempts in north-eastern Syria.”

The meetings were held in Al-Hasakah’s Al-Khabour Park, where the officials discussed “ways to resist the Iranian expansion attempt in the east of the SDF-controlled region of Euphrates region,” according to the sources.

The move would put Saudi Arabia and the US further at odds with Turkey which classes the SDF as a terrorist organisation because it is an offshoot of the PKK which has carried out attacks against Turkey. The US and EU also recognises the PKK as a terrorist entity, however America continues to arm its affiliates.

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