US Troop Deployment to Syria Frustrates Anti-Assad Rebels

Washington's decision to dispatch U.S. commandos to northern Syria to help coordinate the fight against the Islamic State terror group is roiling increasingly tense relations between the Obama administration and the main Western-backed Syrian political opposition, as well as Sunni Arab rebels whose priority is to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebel commanders with the Free Syrian Army say they were not informed of the decision to send the U.S. military into northern Syria. They learned of the plans from reporters after the White House announced that a small group of special forces — fewer than 50 — would deploy to Syria coordinate anti-IS operations by mainly Kurdish fighters and by the U.S.-led coalition supporting the rebels.

In an email to VOA, General Salim Idris, a top FSA commander, admitted, “I don't have any idea about the sending of U.S. soldiers to Syria.”

Support for YPG

At being left in the dark about the deployment, FSA rebel commanders complain the United States appears determined to build up the capacity of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, and a smaller alliance of disparate Arab and Turkmen militias based in northeast Syria, while neglecting rebel forces west of the Euphrates.

Since Russia launched its air campaign mainly against anti-Assad rebels, arms supplies to the FSA have increased from the United States and other countries known collectively as the "Friends of Syria." Chief among the arms supplies is anti-tank TOW missiles. 

But FSA commanders complain the resupplies are insufficient in the face of Russian-backed Assad ground offensives, and they continue to voice deep resentment toward Washington for refusing to supply shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles known as MANPADS.

And the support for the YPG is increasingly frustrating FSA commanders and politicians in the Syrian National Coalition, who fear the territorial ambitions of pro-separatist Kurds........http://www.voanews.com/content/us-troop-deployment-to-syria-frustrates-anti-assad-rebels/3031092.html
31/10/15
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