The U.S-led coalition in Syria says it has recruited 230 new cadets for a border security force it's establishing together with the Syrian Kurdish-led opposition fighters to secure areas recently liberated from Islamic State militants.

The force will be tasked with securing Syria's northern border with Turkey and the eastern border with Iraq.

The coalition told The Associated Press on Monday that the goal is to have a 30,000-strong force over the next several years. Half of the force will be made up of fighters from the existing Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The SDF currently controls nearly 25 percent of Syria's territory along the borders with Turkey and Iraq.

Turkey, which considers the main Kurdish militia in Syria an extension of its own insurgent group, has protested the new force.