US stresses Syria’s SDF remains ‘critical counterterrorism partner’
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, a US State Department spokesman stressed the continuation of partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in a comment on the impacts of Turkey’s approval for Sweden’s NATO bid on situation in northeast Syria.
This came in a press briefing by Matthew Miller, the US State Department Spokesperson, in response to a question about “the new position in supporting the Kurdish fighters, the SDF.”
Miller said, “The SDF have been a critical counterterrorism partner, and they remain a critical counterterrorism partner,” but he refused to speak about special diplomatic talks in a reference to issues taking place between the NATO allies.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to submit Sweden’s request to join NATO to the Turkish parliament, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a tweet days ago.
He added, “They [SDF] fought bravely to liberate vast stretches of Syria from ISIS control…they will continue to be a partner of ours.”
The State Department Spokesperson stressed the importance of the partnership between the US and the SDF in term of “preventing ISIS from realizing its aspirations for a reconstitution.”
The US has warned successively Turkey of launching any military operation against northern Syria that will result in impeding the fight against ISIS and destabilized the region.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The SDF, with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated ISIS after fierce battles in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate declared by the terrorist ISIS.
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS fighters were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)-held areas.