On June 23, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached the Syrian-Iraqi border east to the town of Dashisha and captured the Syrian side of the Tell Safouk border crossing, according to the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Enab Baladi.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are considered the main force of the SDF, confirmed this development and revealed that SDF commanders met with officers of the Iraqi military after reaching the crossing. According to the YPG, both sides discussed the “joint offensive” against ISIS in the eastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor.
A day earlier, the SDF captured the villages of Zibah, Bi’r al-Butah and al-Sayibah few kilometers away from the Syrian-Iraqi border. Back then, Kurdish activists confirmed that US-backed forces reached the border with Iraq.
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Currently, the SDF and the US-led coalition are working to clear the ISIS pocket north of Dashisha. Once this mission is complete, US-backed forces may launch a new military operation to eliminate the remaining cells of ISIS in in the southern al-Hasakah countryside and the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside.
They appear to be a confident bunch.
What the Iraqi officer (=PMU commander) was really thinking:
“About f’king time… It took the PMUs a couple of weeks to clear ISIS out of our side of the desert. You have the entire ZATO air force backing you, plenty of US-supplied arms, equipment and intel and a half-dozen western nation’s SF helping you out. Yet you just stopped at the eastern edge of your stolen oil field booty months ago without really fighting ISIS for them. Why was that? Then you let them hide out further to the east – all the way up to the Iraqi border – unmolested for months. Couldn’t you see them? We could. And oddly enough, they didn’t seem to attack the SDF much or try to take back the oil fields in all this time. WTF is up with that?
Now that the IAF is bombing ISIS in Syria and our Iraqi PMUs are shelling and moving across the Syrian border to clean up your mess, you suddenly get all ISIS-killer. Except you don’t seem to kill many or have any seriously big battles. We do. And we have to kill a lot of them to make them leave. What’s your secret? In any case, control your head-choppers from now on, or we’ll stop by to do that for you. And please tell your CENTCOM masters not to accidentally bomb us. We’re Iraqi military forces, not ISIS and not Iranians. Some of us are not even Shia – imagine that!”
Very sarcastic and well said!
Yes,the beautiful bullshit flags of Stolen- from- Syria Kurdistan are out fluttering in the breeze as US pr consultants have told them. It is a win for Democracy and the American Way!?
I’m having mixed feelings about the Iraqi forces. I can’t seem to trust them yet. Not making the same mistake I did with the Kurds.