Lynch says U.S. troops in Syria are vulnerable
Hostile militias surround unit
Vulnerable American troops stationed along Syria’s volatile northern border could be outgunned following an alleged chemical attack that’s skyrocketed tensions between President Trump and Russia, warned
U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch.
The alarm comes as French and British officials joined Trump’s call to re- spond “forcefully” to the chemical attacks and Kremlin officials also increased their saber-rattling.
“It’s a real soup of things that could go wrong, and I’m just worried about the capacity of our people to defend themselves,” said Lynch, the ranking Democrat on the House national security subcommittee.
The U.S. currently has 2,000 troops in Syria, originally sent there to target Islamic State fighters. But a group of U.S. troops helping Kurdish allies between Aleppo and the city of Manbij is surrounded by 20 to 30 well-armed hostile militias, Lynch said.
“There are a few of our guys up there and there aren’t a lot of heavy weapons. They aren’t heavily armored,” Lynch said. “It’s just a very precarious situation where things could go wrong in a big hurry.”
An April 3 tweet by StrategicNews1 shows images of a camouflaged U.S. military base in the Manbij region, armored vehicles and a makeshift bunker made of sandbags.
“Photos of #US forces in the #Manbij region,” reads the StrategicNews1 tweet.
“The situation has changed drastically since they first went up there,” said Lynch, adding he plans to join a congressional delegation visit to the area within a few weeks. “I’d be concerned the way our personnel is exposed right now.”
Trump yesterday canceled a planned trip to Latin America so he could “oversee the American response to Syria,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The U.S. carried out targeted airstrikes in Syria last year after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime was found to use chemical weapons. Western allies indicated they wanted to wait for proof of the chemical strike before taking military action.
Inspectors from an international chemical weapons watchdog group said yesterday they plan to go to the Syrian town of Douma to look for evidence of a poison gas attack. Russia and Assad continue to deny the weekend attack happened, but according to rescue workers at least 40 people were killed and many children hurt.