What is behind US strategy of keeping troops in post-Assad Syria?
Al Jazeera
Analysts say priorities extend beyond anti-ISIL mission and include keeping leverage as Syria’s future takes shape.
Washington, DC – The administration of United States President Joe Biden has said it is taking a wait-and-see approach to the fledgling government in Syria, with diplomats in recent weeks holding initial meetings with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) head, and the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as the newly appointed Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.
But since rebels toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in early December, the US has maintained it will keep its deployment of troops in northeast Syria, where US personnel continue to support the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as part of a decade-long anti-ISIL (ISIS) mission.
In fact, the Pentagon in December updated the number of personnel it said were present in the country, saying the number was actually 2,000, not the 900 it had for years reported.
Joshua Landis, the director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, described the update as a not-so-subtle message to various actors in Syria to take a cautious approach towards the SDF and the sprawling, economically significant, territory the group controls as the country’s future takes shapes.
It also underscores how the US, at least in the waning days of the Biden administration before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, will seek to assert its leverage in forming a new Syria, in part, through having boots on the ground.
Ukrainian soldiers say Russia is waging fierce battles in the east while they attempt a renewed offensive in Kursk.
South Africa’s military has enhanced border operations along the Limpopo River to halt smugglers and illegal crossings.
The White House is to send $95m to Lebanon, citing regional security, while eyeing human rights concerns in Egypt, Reuters reports.
OCHA chief says attacks by Israeli troops and Palestinian groups stifling bid to save lives in war-torn enclave.
Rescue efforts are under way after the earthquake hits Tibet, with tremors felt as far as Nepal, India and Bhutan.
Washington opens the way for transactions needed for humanitarian purposes, in a move seen as an ‘important step’ towards easing the West’s sanctions regime on the country.
Rescue operations still under way as nine others remain trapped in flooded Assam coal mine.
Indonesia joins Russia, China and others in the group, which is viewed as a counterweight to the West.
England’s cricket board proposes an ‘ICC-wide’ response against Afghanistan over the Taliban’s crackdown on women in response to the MPs’ letter.
New intermediate-range hypersonic missile made with lighter materials, making it more lethal at penetrating enemy defences, Pyongyang says.
Here are the key developments on the 1,048th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.