US troops began building a military base in Hasakah in northeastern Syria at a time when the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) had increased its presence along the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Hasakah is controlled by the Arab-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by an international coalition led by Washington, and Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad’s forces.
According to reports, the US military intends to build a new base in Hasakah, in a neighborhood controlled by the SDF.
Turkey and allied Syrian factions launched a massive offensive in October, in which they took control of Ras al-Ain, in Hasakah, Tel Abyad, Raqqa and a border strip of about 120 km, which were previously under SDF control.
Turkey accuses Syria’s Democratic Union Party and Kurdish People's Protection Units of belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Head of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) Ilham Ahmed told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that Ankara has shifted priorities and alliances, which the US has not accepted.
Washington is trying hard, “at our expense sometimes”, to satisfy Turkey, she said, citing what happened in Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad.
The PMF meanwhile, announced Monday that it has established regular security points in the al-Qaim district, west of Iraq’s al-Anbar, to secure the area that is located between Iraq and Syria.
The 13th brigade has established the security points to secure the province against any infiltration by ISIS remnants, it added in a statement.
Those points helped secure the border between Iraq and Syria, as well as the road linking them, it continued.
Iraqi border security sources had previously revealed that the Iran-backed Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades had started establishing a new camp on the border with Syria to serve as a replacement to one that was destroyed in US strikes in December 2019.
