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The US has established a military base in the north-eastern part of Syria, deploying 800 US servicemen there.

Washington has established a military base in north-eastern Syria, which is currently controlled by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Daily Sabah newspaper reported on January 23, citing a report of the Kurdish BasNews news agency.

The base is in the Syrian city of Al-Hasakah, located 70 km from the Syrian-Turkish border and 50 km from the Syrian-Iraqi border. Reportedly, the US has deployed 800 servicemen on the military base.

According to BasNews, the US created the new military base in the western part of Syrian Kurdistan, also known as Rojava, in order to strengthen the support, which is provided to the local forces, fighting against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. An unnamed source from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told the news agency that “a large group of the well-equipped US Special Forces” has recently arrived at the Tel Bidr base, located to the northwest of Hasakah.

In addition, the source pointed out that the US Special Forces arrived after local Kurdish fighters have started evacuating of the Tel Bidr base, moving all their military equipment out of the site.

As the source noted, the total number of the US Special Forces and military instructors, who arrived at the base, is about 800 people. He also added that their arrival is a part of the US-led coalition’s plan to defeat IS terrorists in Deir ez-Zor province. “They will also provide support to the SDF forces, which are now advancing towards Raqqa,” the source said.

However, according to head of the Center for Islamic Studies of the Institute of Innovative Development, Kirill Semenov, the Daily Sabah newspaper made a mistake, saying that the new base is controlled by the PYD. As he told the Svobodnaya Pressa news website, Americans control their facilities in Rojava solely by their own forces and stressed that the SDF and especially the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) of the PYD just cannot control these bases.

BasNews pointed out that earlier, the US set up several military bases all over Rojava, including Kobani, Ain Isa, Rmeilan and Reif Hasakah, in the frameworks of the international coalition’s campaign to fight against the IS in Syria.

Currently, the US has five air bases in the region: Al Dhafra (UAE), Al Udeid (Qatar), Isa (Bahrain), Ali Al Salem (Kuwait) and Incirlik (Turkey). In addition, according to satellite images, the US also long ago built two facilities in the area of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan. The first facility is located on the territory of the Syrian-French Lafarge cement factory – various storage buildings, as well as the AH-64 Apache, the BlackHawk and the CH-47 Chinook helicopters, and the V-22 Osprey convertiplanes of the Marine Corps were spotted there. The second facility is located 35 km to the south of Kobani (Rumelan) and equipped with a runway, which was built with the participation of US engineers. The facility on the territory of the Syrian military base in Ain Isa is used by the US and the SDF as a logistics center for their offensive on Raqqa and a training camp for preparation of local population for the fight against the IS.

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