American-Backed Syrian Democratic Forces Enforce De-Confliction Boundaries

By Grant Gambling | 12:12 AM on June 19, 2017

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FILE - In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, shakes hand with Syrian President Bashar Assad as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, looks on, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. For five years fighting has raged in Syria -- a globally resonant nightmare kept going in part by the insistence of Bashar Assad’s opponents that he must go even though they were failing to dislodge him from power. Now an inflection point may finally be at hand, with increasingly important Turkey suggesting Assad could play a role in an unspecified transition period. (Alexei Druzhinin, RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Recently RedState has been covering the mounting tensions concentrated in pockets of the Euphrates Basin which straddles Iraq and Syria, where forces emboldened by Shiite supremacy wrapped in Iranian nationalistic fervor threaten to drastically complicate the United States’ efforts to bring down the Islamic State. Operation Inherent Resolve is a coalition force led by the United States and the coalition has instructed the Damascus Alliance to maintain a 55 kilometer “de-conflicted” zone at all times, something both Iranian-backed militias and the regular Syrian army have ignored 4 times.

https://twitter.com/leithfadel/status/876557262734725120

And now, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the primary US proxy fighting ISIS, are engaged in clashes with the Syrian Government Forces (SAA) in a place near Resafa. The SAA wants their pilot back and is willing to enter the de-conflicted zone to get him. It would behoove those who have access to the back channels with Russia to set up freely giving him or his remains back to the Syrians and remind the SAA the de-conflicted zones are not a request or a suggestion.

Because some in the media are hell-bent on claiming this escalation is coming from the United States, when the United States Military takes a notion to escalates a situation it unmistakable and one-sided.

Constant escalation from invading American forces, Syrian jet had flown sortie against ISIS: https://t.co/0zLTIUMpac https://t.co/zwVLcZZKiU

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 18, 2017

That is Max Blumenthal sharing Moscow’s talking points. Conservative readers may remember him from Clinton email revelations and being publicly humiliated by Andrew Brietbart, who once said Blumenthal was “programmed by some ungodly creature,” and he is also unapologetically pro-Assad. His slant is obviously anti-american and reflects the alt-right on foreign policy more than any average Conservative voter ever could. He most certainly advocates for the SAA to breech the de-conflicted zone causing more Syrian deaths and placing American service members in harm’s way. Blumenthal made a living accusing any American opposing Obama of racism and 5 years later he is defending what looks like a Sunni genocide. It boggles one’s mind how a voice like his is still listened to by anyone.

The condition of the Syrian pilot shot down by an American F-18 is unknown, much like the legal authority of the United States to fire on a sovereign country’s military. That is why it is crucial for President Trump to ask Congress for a clear mandate on how to handle aggression from the Assad regime, Iranian Military, and Shia militias, all of which have amassed in force around Americans and their proxies.

Perhaps both sides of the American political spectrum should put the political theater on pause for a moment and concentrate our collective fire outside the tent. The Americans at al-Tanf, Resafa, and other places along the Syrian/Iraqi border are not bait. If they are not to be given a clear directive of how to operate, the White House should remove them from harm’s way. These vague half-measures are starting to resemble the Obama era.