500 new trainees join US-backed Syria border force

HASAKEH, Syria: Around 500 Syrian fighters graduated on Saturday from a US-led training course aimed at establishing a controversial "border security force" in the country’s north.

Last week, the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group announced it had begun forming a 30,000-strong security force to patrol territory captured from IS.

About half its fighters would hail from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters that has emerged as Washington’s best ally against jihadists, and the rest would be new recruits.

On Saturday, a batch of around 500 fighters marked their completion of the nearly three-week training programme at a ceremony near Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakeh.

Dressed in military fatigues, the graduates stood in neat rows and took an oath to protect the country’s borders "against all attacks and threats".

Trainers from the SDF and US-led coalition looked on, with pistols strapped to their waists or thighs.

"This is the second (graduating) class of the Border Security Force. They’re made up of every demographic in the area," said Kani Ahmad, who headed the training. The first class graduated on Friday.

The BSF would be deployed from northeast Syria, throughout the Kurdish-controlled north across to the northwestern province of Idlib, he said.

"Their mission is to protect the border, especially threats by Turkey and its mercenaries because we’re being threatened," Ahmad added.

Turkey vehemently opposes the creation of the border force because it considers the SDF’s Kurdish component -- the People’s Protection Units (YPG) -- a "terrorist" group.