US has responsibility to stabilize the area, not leaving stabilization to SDF: American diplomat
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The US has no permanent interests in terms of maintaining a military presence in eastern Syria, the defeat of ISIS is the mission, the special advisor of the former US president Barak Obama on Syrian affairs, Frederic Hof said.
In an exclusive interview with North Press Hof said ISIS apparently still presents a threat in terms of its latest insurgency, it is trying to bring the so-called Caliphate back into existence.
He added that it is true the American troops’ presence in northeastern Syria not only focus on ISIS but “on having some capability to obstruct Iran from using Syria as a big highway to ship things not only to extremist groups inside Syria but to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the arm of the Islamic republic on the Mediterranean sea.”
Hof referred to the Iranian presence in Syria and its danger saying “Iran has organized a lot of manpower on the ground, by which it controls the regime very carefully, Assad is not free to use these assets the way he wants.”
Hof stressed that the US has a responsibility to stabilize the area, and not leaving stabilization to the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, the US has to play an active role it has to support and encourage local people to build strong local govern structure that could cover all of northeastern Syria, something that could provide alternative to the Assad regime, something reflect the concept of the government.
He said all Syrians whether living out or in Syria are suffering from the war and the acts of the Syrian regime, the so-called the Syrian government, which make no efforts to address the real problems of Syrian people.”