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Shortly after the U.S.-led coalition began its third and final phase of clearing out ISIS, the campaign was again temporarily suspended when Turkey began shelling Kurdish positions last month in northern Syria, prompting the Syrian Democratic Forces to appeal to both the U.S.-led coalition and Syrian government to take action. The U.S.-led coalition and Turkey had already begun joint patrols designed to avoid such clashes, but on Tuesday, the coalition announced that the U.S. had sent troops to the Turkish border.
"U.S. Forces are securing locations for manned Observation Posts on Syrian-Turkish border. The goal is to support security and stability on the border and enable the continued fight against ISIS. #DefeatISIS," the coalition's official account tweeted.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has expressed his country's "unease" to the Pentagon, arguing in a statement Saturday that the observation posts "would make the complicated situation in the region even more complicated." On Tuesday, coalition spokesperson Colonel Sean Ryan said the positions were "committed to security in the northern Syria region, it takes into account Turkey's security as well."
Turkey has also established observation posts, but has done so on the boundaries of Idlib, a northwestern Syrian province that borders Turkey-occupied Afrin and represents the last bastion of the Islamist-held insurgency against Assad. The rest of Idlib is flanked by territory held by the Syrian government, which has sent reinforcements to the area in anticipation of a potential battle to retake the province, which is dominated by groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and is home to an estimated 3 million people, most of them civilians.
A deal between Turkey and Russia—which, along with Iran, also maintains observation posts near Idlib—has so far staved off fighting major fighting between Syrian troops and rebels in the area, though Russian warplanes launched airstrikes Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack against government-controlled Aleppo. Syrian troops instead have engaged pockets of ISIS control in southern Syria and in the east, where pro-government fighters were battling the jihadis on the western bank of the Euphrates River.
On the other side of the waterway, the Syrian Democratic Forces have restarted their anti-ISIS offensive but have faced fierce resistance in the area surrounding the city of Hajin. ISIS militants recently staged a counterattack during a heavy fog, leading to at least 80 casualties among the ranks of the Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as reportedly dozens of jihadis."
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