USSOCOM to face Assad forces on the Iraq-Syria border
On 6 January, the Til Koçer border crossing between Syria and Iraq, which had been closed for several years, finally repoened, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus finally came to an agreement over who would control it. An agreement was reached handing the task over to SDF, after talks between both parties, supervised by Russia, resumed, ending months of deadlock. The move comes as a blow to Washington, whose National Security Council Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and special envoy for Syria Matthew Pearl had been in negotiations over the control of the strategic point for several months.
Washington in the hot seat
Highlighting the humanitarian emergency in Northeast Syria, the US had reached out to both the authorities of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the SDF over the matter, of direct concern to its forces deployed in Syria. The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which generally uses the Fish Khabour border crossing, occasionally transits via Til Koçer, located a little further south. With SDF in charge of it, USSOCOM will have to deal with Bashar al-Assad, with whom Washington still has no official diplomatic relations ever since the US broke them over the war in Syria.
The Kurds under pressure
For several months, Moscow had been urging the Kurdish administration in Northeast Syria to resume contact with Damascus. Faced with persistent threats from Turkey and unsteady support from the US, the Kurdish authorities finally yielded to Russia. Essential goods have been scarce in the region ever since the Fish Khabour crossing was closed in December by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) (lead by the Barzanis) after alleged clashes with members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is close to the PYD (Democratic Union Party), which has a majority in the SDF. Aware that Damascus is more likely to keep the border with Iraq opened, the Kurdish authorities preferred to chose the SDF
