Why does the US continue to station troops in Syria?

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The National Interest
12 Jan 2023 00:14
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The report states that the US has found another pretext to maintain its troops stationed in Syria: to protect troops that are already stationed there, a strategy which will surely create further problems in the future - as it has done so many times before.

U.S. Soldiers gather for a brief during a combined joint patrol rehearsal in Manbij, Syria, Nov. 7, 2018. Spc. Zoe Garbarino/U.S. Army

The National Interest published on Tuesday an op-ed about the US' continued occupation of territories in northern Syria and the likelihood of the conflict escalating further in the region in light of Turkey's recent offense against US-backed Kurdish militant groups.

The report states that ever since ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, the reasons for the US to remain stationed in Syrian territory have been left unclear.

But they can't really be that unclear since the real pretext for the US to station troops in Syria is to get rid of the current Syrian government.

The report states that the US has found another pretext to maintain its troops stationed in Syria: to protect troops that are already stationed there, a strategy which will surely create further problems in the future - as it has done so many times before.

The US is well aware that Turkey regards Kurdish militias as terrorists. But it continues to disregard the interests of its NATO ally at the expense of keeping a hold on Kurdish militant groups.

It goes on to say that "the American presence in Syria has likewise outlived its intended purpose." This is obviously untrue considering that Assad is still in power.

Moreover, the report states that "Syria is not a core interest of the United States." This is absolutely untrue because the US has a lot to gain from destroying wealth stocks, reducing the number of workers, creating more refugees, looting natural resources, and increasing the pace of depopulation.

It is also a close ally of Iran and Russia, which both intervened to take down ISIS in 2015 and have both recently vowed to stabilize the situation in Syria.

The US frequently loots oil from Syrian gas fields and transports them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.

On December 14, 2022, Syria's Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in a statement that the US occupation forces and their affiliated military groups' systematic lootings of Syrian oil, wheat, and other national resources have amounted to direct losses valued at $25.9 billion and indirect losses valued at over $86 billion.

It further estimated the total value of the Syrian oil sector losses to amount to $111.9 billion.

On December 31, 2022, Syria’s General Organization of Radio and TV reported that several missiles were fired at a US occupation base near Al-Omar oil field in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor.

And on January 4, Al Mayadeen sources reported that the US occupation base in the same base was targeted with a number of missiles. According to the sources, two missiles fell near soldiers' housing units, with no casualties reported.

The US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces currently control a large portion of Syria's Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, and Al-Hasakah governorates, where US occupation bases are frequently shelled with missiles.