The United States trains SDF to use drones and helicopters

US forces in northern Syria are training the Syria Democratic Forces to use helicopters and drones.

The US forces conducted training with SDF at the Kharab al Jir base in the Malikiyah countryside, north of Hasakah Governorate, including training on piloting helicopters and carrying out airdrops.

Sources revealed that the United States is completing a plan to train a special SDF group to fly helicopters, which it began at Erbil Airport, which Türkiye targeted at the time during the presence of the SDF Commander-in-Chief, Mazloum Abdi”.

About a year ago, a helicopter crashed in the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah, carrying a number of SDF leaders and members, with Turkish accusations that it crashed while US forces were training SDF members to fly helicopters.

On the other hand, Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said in media statements, Sunday, that Türkiye considers joint US military exercises with the PKK and YPG militia in Syria unacceptable.

He said, “Ankara is closely monitoring every event,” and added, “The American army once again conducted training with terrorists on the use of helicopters… This is unacceptable”.

Meanwhile, the Americans trained members of the SDF to use drones at the al Shaddadi base, south of al Hasakah Governorate, and the SDF is working on using the ammunition drones to add to the weapons it possesses.

Last week, the United States launched a series of large-scale maneuvers that lasted for several days, called “Operation Blue Arrow,” in order to raise the combat capabilities of its forces and the SDF’s partner forces, after the escalation of resistance attacks on American bases in Syria and Iraq.

In these past weeks most of the US bases in eastern Syria and Iraq were targeted by multiple attacks, as 103 times since October 17, including more than 60 attacks on bases in Syria.

On parallel, the Syria Democratic Forces,has become in an unenviable situation, as the Arab tribal forces forced the SDF militia to withdraw from its military sites in the Deir al Zour countryside, under the weight of the tribal forces’ continuous and violent attacks.

The efforts of the US forces, which is based in illegal bases such as Omar oil field and the Koniko gas field in the eastern countryside of Deir al Zour, didn’t succeed in protecting the SDF from attacks by tribal forces, whether by conducting joint patrols with the militias along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River or securing Air protection.

This coincided with the occurrence of many deaths among the ranks of the SDF as a result of attacks by Arab tribal forces and the capture of its militants, which caused embarrassment to its leaders in front of their ally, the US forces, which provides them with all necessary support.