Meddling in Syria

The decision by the Americans to build a border security force of 30,000 personnel with Syrian militia allies threatens to further destabilise a region that has already suffered enough. Of the various militias which have received US support, the most prominent have been forces dominated by Kurdish groups. This, unsurprisingly, has greatly angered Turkey, which has sent troops of its own into northern Syria to target Kurdish militia groups. The Erdogan government believes the Kurdish groups in Syria are linked to the Turkey-based PKK. The Turkish government had also summoned the US charge d’affaires last week and made it clear that it would not accept this new border security force. It is believed that the border force will be deployed along the northern border with Turkey and the Iraqi border, effectively demarcating territory controlled by the Syrian government and the rebel Syrian Democratic Forces. Many of the militia groups that make up the SDF have been accused of human rights violations and the Turkish government has already said it will attack “nests of terror”. Syria has already been ravaged by the outside involvement of the US on the side of the rebels and Russia on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad. The greater military involvement of Turkey will only add to the violence, something the US should have considered before it decided to build this border force.

The US has claimed the border force is necessary to take on the Islamic State. But the militant group has mostly been cleared from areas controlled by rebels and is no longer a major force in Iraq either. It has become clear that this is a way for the Trump administration to further involve itself in Syria without having to send its own troops into the country. The military effectiveness of the border security force will be questionable. The number of 30,000 personnel touted by the US is a pipedream at the moment. The inaugural class of the force, which received training from the US, is believed to number just above 200. What this step does do is simultaneously anger the Syrian government, Turkey and Russia. The use of the word ‘order’ is particularly fraught since it implies that the northern part of the country – where the rebels control much of the territory – is seen by the US almost as a separate country. Any more meddling will only make it more difficult than ever to reach a peace agreement that could finally bring an end to Syria’s ruinous civil war.