The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing military sources, that the Pentagon was working on a plan to create a safe zone in the north-eastern part of Syria in order to protect the US-backed Kurdish units.
According to the newspaper, US officials are calling on the leaders of the UK, Germany and France to create a safe zone in Syria and to send a total of 1,500 troops.
Washington, in turn, would be ready to leave about 200 troops that would support their allies and provide them with intelligence.
In early December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Ankara was ready to start a new military operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK) and YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units), which are prohibited in Turkey, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates if the United States does not facilitate the withdrawal of the militia from the region.
The US demand from its allies is at a time that White House plans to withdraw its forces from Syria, an attempt that has espoused diverse reactions, mostly unwelcomed by U.S. allies.
France’s foreign minister on Friday, February 15, said he was mystified by US policy on northeastern Syria after US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops.
On Friday, speaking at a security conference in Munich, US Senator Lindsey Graham said the United States would keep its capacity in the region, according to Reuters.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand on American policy in this region,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told Graham.
France is one of Washington’s main allies in the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, with its warplanes used to strike militant targets, its heavy-artillery backing Kurdish-led fighters and its special forces on the ground.
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