A contingent of U.S. Special Forces has been caught up in Turkish
shelling against U.S.-backed Kurdish positions in northern Syria, days
after President Donald Trump told his Turkish counterpart he would
withdraw U.S. troops from certain positions in the area.
Newsweek
has learned through both an Iraqi Kurdish intelligence official and
senior Pentagon official that Special Forces operating on Mashtenour
hill in the majority-Kurdish city of Kobani fell under artillery fire
from Turkish forces conducting their so-called "Operation Peace Spring"
against Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. but considered terrorist
organizations by Turkey. No injuries have been reported.
The
senior Pentagon official said shelling was so heavy that the U.S.
personnel considered firing back in self-defense, but they withdrew once
the shelling had ceased.
Newsweek previously reported
Wednesday that the current rules of engagement for U.S. forces continue
to be centered around self-defense and that no order has been issued by
the Pentagon for a complete withdraw from Syria.
The official
said that Turkish forces should be aware of U.S. positions "down to the
grid." The official could not specify the exact number of personnel
present, but indicated they were "small numbers below company level," so
somewhere between 15 and 100 troops.
Newsweek has reached out to the Pentagon for comment on the situation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had long warned he would storm
the border to establish a so-called "safe zone" and, after the White
House announced Sunday that U.S. troops would stand aside, he launched
the operation earlier this week.
In its Sunday statement, the
White House had said that U.S. troops "will no longer be in the
immediate area" as Turkey and allied Syrian rebels commenced their
assault. During Friday's press conference, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Army General Mark Milley said that U.S. personnel were "still
co-located" save for "two small outposts" near the border with Turkey.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said 50 Special Forces personnel had been
repositioned ahead of the Turkish and allied Syrian rebel assault.
The
U.S. first partnered with the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces
in 2015 to battle the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) as the country
shifted its support away from an increasingly Islamist opposition
seeking the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The group
proved effective in beating back the jihadis, but the U.S.' decision was
opposed by Turkey, a NATO member that has faced off with a decades-long
insurgency by Kurdish separatists.
Turkey remains the last major
sponsor of the Syrian opposition, made up largely of members of the
country's Syrian Arab majority, and has mobilized up to a thousand
fighters from these forces, along with hundreds of its own troops, in
order to seize territory currently administered by a majority-Kurdish
autonomous administration that spans the country's north and east. This
self-governing entity has not been recognized by Ankara nor the central
government in Damascus, which has secured much of the rest of the
country's territory with the help of Russia, Iran and allied militias.
A US soldier sits atop an armoured
vehicle during a demonstration by Syrian Kurds against Turkish threats
next to a base for the US-led international coalition on the outskirts
of Ras al-Ain town in Syria's Hasakeh province near the Turkish border
on October 6, 2019. - US forces in Syria started pulling back today from
Turkish border areas, opening the way for Ankara's threatened military
invasion and heightening fears of a jihadist resurgence.
DELIL SOULEIMAN DOCUMENT newsweek.com
