Biden administration to continue support for SDF: US state department

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US President Joe Biden’s new administration will continue to cooperate with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) group, according to a State department spokesperson.

The SDF, “who have done the lion's share of the fighting against ISIS on the ground, remain a capable and committed military partner,” the spokesperson told Rudaw English on Wednesday in an email. “They cannot continue to root out ISIS terrorists, or guard the tens of thousands of ISIS detainees and families who are still in their custody, without US support.”

The SDF is the US-led coalition’s main partner on the ground in Syria. The US has provided Kurdish forces with military and logistical support since 2014.

Despite the former administration’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria’s northern border with Turkey, effectively greenlighting a Turkish offensive against the SDF in October 2019, Kurds have continued working with the US in the fight against ISIS remnants in northeast Syria and lower Euphrates Valley.

A down-sized contingent of US troops remains in northeast Syria to guard the region’s lucrative oil fields.

“The United States remains in close coordination with local partners in northeast Syria, including the SDF, the humanitarian community, and civil society groups,” added the spokesperson. “We will continue our support to help meet humanitarian needs and create the kind of stability and security necessary for a better future for the Syrian people.”

ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 and in Iraq in 2017, but the group remains a threat on both sides of the border, with remnants of the group have returned to earlier insurgency tactics, ambushing security forces, kidnapping and executing suspected informants, and extorting money from vulnerable rural populations.

Peshmerga officials in Iraq are warning of a regrouping, strengthening of the terrorist group, however, Coalition forces deny any notable resurgence.

The Iraqi capital was shook by a double suicide bombing on January 21, which saw the deaths of more than 30 people. Just three days later at least 11 PMF fighters were killed in an ISIS ambush in Tikrit province.

The State department spokesperson said it would also keep supporting Iraq in the fight against ISIS militants, who remain concentrated within territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, taking advantage of security gaps.

“With our International Coalition partners, we will continue our efforts to advise and assist the Iraqi Security Forces to prevent a resurgence of ISIS,” he added.

Biden, who in 2006, in the heat of Iraq’s sectarian conflict, had proposed a semi-partition of the country, calling for federal autonomy along Shiite, Sunni Arab, and Kurdish lines, has said very little on his administration’s policy plans for Iraq.

“We support a stable, prosperous, democratic and unified Iraq. The Strategic Framework Agreement remains the foundation for our bilateral relationship,” the spokesperson told Rudaw English.

“We will be a steady, reliable partner that supports Iraq's anti-corruption and economic reform efforts, helps it improve regional relationships, provides humanitarian and demining assistance, supports respect for the human rights of all Iraqis, backs efforts to combat criminal activity and control unlawful armed groups, and advises and assists the Iraqi security forces.”

With reporting by Fazel Hawramy

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