Pentagon: US troops now operating with Turks in Syria

The Pentagon says us troops for the first time are operating alongside Turkish government forces who are fighting Islamic State militants inside Syria.

Activists had said at the time that the air strikes on August 24, in the early stages of Turkey’s campaign in Syria, killed civilians. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. Russian Federation has also thrown its military into the fight, nominally to fight terrorists, but also to prop up Assad’s crumbling power.

“We won’t accept any American here – we’re Muslims, not infidels”, one rebel was quoted on Twitter. It was not clear if the Americans accompanying the Turkish military had been re-assigned from other locations in northern Syria or were part of a new contingent.

The United States’ new partnership with the Turks and what the Pentagon calls the “Vetted Syrian Opposition” comes as the United States has sought to ease tensions between the Turks and US -backed Kurdish forces that had been fighting the Islamic State near the Turkish-Syrian border before Turkey’s new offensive. The rebels who objected to the American presence have since been moved to other areas of the battlefield.

A U.S. official had told CNN last month that Special Operations Forces had initially meant to accompany the original Turkish offensive but that the USA was still working on approving the proposal when Turkish units pushed across the border. Turkey leaders have accused US military officers of backing the Turkish military’s botched coup attempt in July. There are more than 4,000 American military personnel now deployed to Iraq, with an additional 900 special forces in that country, while there are some 300 additional forces in Syria, including the 40 commandos announced on Friday.

The hotline established between the Russian and Turkish militaries in the last month is effectively increasing military cooperation between the countries and preventing the recurrence of prior incidents, such as the November 24 jet crisis on the Turkish-Syrian border.

The deaths “could have been avoided if the SDF fighters hadn’t positioned themselves among buildings filled with civilians and Turkish forces had made a better effort to determine whether civilians were there”, said Ole Solvang, HRW deputy emergencies director.

According to a statement issued by General Staff on Thursday, the army started to shell positions of terror organizations as of 5.50 p.m. local time (1450GMT) and the coalition led by US did not carry out airstrikes on Thursday. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said Friday.

The straining bilateral ties between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies are contrasted by the thawing relations Turkey is now enjoying with Russian Federation, the main backer of the Assad regime in Syria.

The chief of the Russian army’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, met his Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Thursday for “very productive” talks on military cooperation and Syria, Turkish officials said, reflecting a recent warming of ties.