Washington examiner
While Washington was focused on the Senate testimony of fired FBI Director James Comey yesterday, the U.S. military announced that it had bombed pro-Assad forces in southern Syria, the third time in a month. The action is focusing attention onto those regime-backed forces who are engaging Islamic State fighters, the same enemy the U.S.-led coalition is fighting.
The U.S. is taking action because the group has moved into a de-escalation zone near the southern border, where the U.S. is training local fighters. So why are they there? These pro-Assad forces appear to have their eye on the oil fields of Deir al-Zour, where the Islamic State leadership has moved to as the U.S.-backed fighters begin the assault on the self-proclaimed ISIS capital of Raqqa. These forces, which include militias backed by Iran, are the same ones that have been operating near the U.S. training base at al-Tanf, on the Syria-Iraq border. Between the Iranian-backed troops and the prized oil fields are vast areas of Syrian desert, and small towns all held by ISIS.
The U.S. also has its eye on Deir al-Zour as the next logical target after ISIS is defeated in Raqqa. “I would not call it a race,” U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said this morning in an interview from Iraq. “We’re going to be successful in Raqqa, and then once we’re done with that, we’ll see where to go next.” But Dillon says the value of the region is no secret. “Just east of Deir al-Zour, right outside are oil fields, is a very rich location for resources. We know that because ISIS has been using these resources to finance these operations.”
But while the objective of the pro-regime forces seems clear, it’s a mystery why they have ignored U.S. demands they stay clear of a 35-mile ring around the al-Tanf training garrison that the U.S. has declared a “deconfliction zone.” Last month, a small, platoon-size element moved into the zone and refused to leave. Despite repeated warnings, and three separate bombings by U.S. warplanes, the latest yesterday, in which technical vehicles were destroyed and an armed drone shot down, they are staying put. So why aren’t they getting the message? “I wish I knew,” Dillon told the Washington Examiner this morning. “This is not what we want to do. We would be perfectly pleased if we did not have to focus on the protection of our forces there.”
WHOSE DRONE WAS IT ANYWAY? The armed drone the U.S. shot out of the sky was described yesterday as resembling an American MQ-1 Predator, similar in size and design. A U.S. warplane took down the unmanned plane after it dropped a munition on a group of coalition and partner troops that was patrolling just outside the safe zone. The suspicion is that the drone was Iranian, part of the support for the Iranian-backed troops on the ground. Sources confirm the drone was made by a country in the region. We may get a better idea today, since the Pentagon may release video of the shootdown to show the drone was in fact a threat to U.S. and partner forces. There were no casualties in the drone attack. The bomb it dropped “hit dirt,” we are told.