Syrian troops shift focus to eastern Islamic State area

BEIRUT — Syria’s military launched a new assault Tuesday aimed at reasserting its authority in the east of the country, battling U.S.-backed opposition fighters in the remote desert near the borders with Iraq and Jordan. The government forces’ ultimate goal is to insert itself in the fight against the Islamic State group in the oil-rich region.

The government offensive came as the Trump administration announced it would arm Syria’s Kurdish fighters “as necessary” to recapture the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. The decision is meant to accelerate the Raqqa operation, but is strongly opposed by key NATO ally Turkey, which sees the Syrian Kurdish group, known as the YPG, as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast.

The decision is likely to complicate the way going forward, as the U.S. has deployed additional troops to act as a buffer between Syria’s Kurds and Turkey along the country’s northern border.

Dana W. White, the Pentagon’s chief spokeswoman, said in a written statement that President Donald Trump’s authorization of arms to the Syrian Kurds gives the Pentagon the goahead to “equip Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over ISIS” in Raqqa. The U.S. sees the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which also includes Arab fighters, as its most effective battlefield partner against IS in northern and eastern Syria.

The statement did not specify the kinds of arms to be provided, but other officials have indicated that 120mm mortars, machine guns, ammunition and light armored vehicles were possibilities. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter, said the U.S. would not provide artillery or surface-to-air missiles.

Tuesday’s offensive in the east opens another front against IS, this time pitting the U.S.- and Western-backed rebels against Syrian government forces and allied fighters. The clashes are part of a race for control of an area that stretches from the provincial capital of Deir el-Zour in northeastern Syria to the border with Iraq, where an estimated 10,000 IS fighters uprooted from Mosul, Iraq’s secondlargest city, have been massing.