The Washington Post has reported that the US hopes to prolong its military presence in areas – controlled by Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – in the northern part of Syria. Current US Secretary of Defence James Norman Mattis, serving in the Cabinet of Donald Trump, proved this fact, saying “We’re not just going to walk away right now.”
Officially, the US’ strength in Syria stood at approximately 500 troops, including hundreds of additional Special Operations forces, forward air controllers, artillery crews and others. They basically lend support to militants and Kurdish militias.
Besides, the Americans unlawfully set up a military base not far from Syria-Jordan border in At-Tanf in April 2017. The military instructors from the US, Great Britain and France train New Syrian Army’s radicals for fighting the official Syrian government forces, instead of eliminating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) there.
By setting up the military garrison, the US military command created a 55km buffer zone over it that allowed them to prevent a UN humanitarian convoy from entering the area in early November. As a result, 50,000 refugees from Raqqa and Deir-Ezzor in Rukban camp were left without basic necessities. The refugees, living in that desert camp in south-east Syria, are (practically) being used by the US to shield its military base.
Over the weekend, a number of mainstream media discussed the military future of the US Command in Syria. In particular, British Reuters reported that the Pentagon is likely to announce in the coming days that there are about 2,000 US troops in Syria.

However, the issue of subsequent deployment of the US troops in Syria remains. According to some diplomatic sources, the US Congress completely upholds President Trump advocating early withdrawal of the troops from Syria just after IS is rooted. But it totally contradicts Pentagon’s initiatives.
Probably, the US Congress shares not only Trump’s, but also people’s point of view on the issue of illegal American presence under the international law and lack of military successes in the backdrop of vast resources spent. The US Department of State claims that the US-led international coalition have already wasted USD 22 billion tax money while trying to beat the IS both in Iraq and Syria.
In such a situation, the US troops’ prolonged presence on the territory of a sovereign state only plays into the hands of high-ranking Pentagon chiefs, Army contractors and neocons. It seems the US Defence Department doesn’t take care of the money of common American taxpayers, as it says nothing of thousands of Syrians have been dying since the US presence in the country.
Last summer, News Week reported that more than 5,000 civilians had been killed as a result of indiscriminate air-strikes of the international coalition from October 2014 till June 2017.
Hopefully, Washington and Pentagon respect the sovereignty of independent state, and international law will find a common language and encourage the US to withdraw the contingent, as Damascus calls for, at least after the IS be completely defeated. Maybe then, all those responsible for an extra-budgetary strain and international crimes against humanity would be brought to justice.

Sophie Mangal – the special investigative correspondent, Inside Syria Media Centre – has sent the story to Boundless Ocean of Politics.

Sophie Mangal

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das