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Senior US army officer declares ‘absolute confidence’ in SDF
From Rudaw.net-Erbil
06-04-2017 - ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US forces training and working with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria have high praise for the SDF, a senior US military official stated after a visit to the region. Sgt. Maj. John Wayne Troxell, a senior advisor to Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited the SDF in northern Syria where he saw them “in action – both training and on security,” Pentagon media reported on Wednesday.
Everywhere he went “our forces had absolute confidence in the SDF,” he said.
After observing training, Troxell said the SDF were a disciplined force, well aware of the tough fight they are facing in the battle to oust ISIS from Raqqa. US commanders working with the SDF told Troxell that the SDF were “some of the best partnered forces they have ever been with” and the Americans and Syrians are working well together, trusting each other.
The US forces are conducting training as well as “partnering and assisting with joint fires,” Troxell detailed, adding that the Marines had carried out 1,182 fire missions in the time they had been in northern Syria, a little over a month.
The US deployed a Marine force to northern Raqqa in early March. The Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines ground force of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit was deployed to the country where they will establish an outpost and man artillery, including M777 Howitzers, reports stated at the time.
The joined some 500 US special forces already in northern Syria assisting and advising the Kurdish-led SDF in their military operation to defeat ISIS in its de facto capital of Raqqa.
Troxell, who visited northern Syria on behalf of his boss, the highest-ranking military officer in the US and top military advisor to the President, said he left the country “with the utmost confidence that the Syrian Democratic Forces can get the job done.”
His recommendation is to increase the level of partnership between his and the Syrian forces. “[T]he more we can get advisors at the tactical level, the more effective they are going to be.” While increasing the number of US advisors in the country would be helpful, Troxell asserted that the needs of the SDF were being met by the current numbers in the country.
The SDF have been conducting operations to isolate Raqqa over the past five months and an assault on the urban centre is expected to be launched this month. As the major offensive nears, the US has increased its overt support for the force, despite objections from NATO ally Turkey.
Turkey alleges the Kurdish forces within the SDF, the YPJ, have ties with the banned PKK and accuses the US of supporting a terrorist group.
//www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/050420172
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