US forces trained the SDF, a rebranded version of the YPG terror group, for a possible operation by Turkish forces in northeastern Syria, Foreign Policy magazine reported Tuesday.
TERRORISTS WERE TAUGHT BATTLE TACTICS
Citing a US Army officer who worked with the group, the magazine said the SDF was taught sophisticated battlefield tactics, including how to build a network of tunnels beneath key towns in northeast Syria as a contingency against a Turkish military campaign.
The officer told Foreign Policy that the group started to work on tunnels after Turkey seized Afrin, Syria in 2018. The officer also said US troops conducted several rehearsals with the SDF on how to coordinate in case of a Turkish operation as well as training to build a “defense in depth,” a military strategy that seeks to cause a delay to an attacking force.
A former US Army officer who also worked with the SDF confirmed the “group built tunnels as a contingency” against Turkey, said the report.
It added that the tunnels and other defenses were likely set up as part of preparations for an eventual US withdrawal.