US Lt. Gen. Paul Funk greets Kurdish commanders of Syrian Democratic Forces in Manbij, Syria, February 2018
The US military is seeking a doubling of local security forces in Kurdish-held northeast Syria and a 2,200-member “oilfield guard”.
An inspector general’s report for Operation Inherent Resolve, the label for the US campaign against the Islamic State, set out the plan. It was published just after the revelation of a deal between US-based Delta Crescent Energy and Kurdish authorities to market oil output.
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The majority of Syria’s oil and gas fields are in the area held by a Kurdish autonomous administration after the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces evicted ISIS between 2017 and 2019. At least 30,000 barrels of oil per day, with between $1 million and $3 million in revenue, are produced.
The US military supported the three SDF regional commmands — Middle, South, and East — the Internal Security Forces (InSF), and the Provincial Security Forces (PRISF).
InSF, responsible for policing and manning of checkpoints, currently has about 11,200 personnel. The US goal is 28,200.
The plan seeks to boost Hêzên Anti-Terror, a counterterrorism unit, from about 250 members to 800.
PRISF, which guards the oilfields and “undertake a broad range of border security tasks”, will be built up to 22,000 troops. It is unclear how many personnel the force currently has.
No dates were set for the targets. Funding is provided through the Counter-ISIS Train and Equip Fund, which received $200 million for the Syrian mission in the 2020 budget. Military officials have asked for the same amount in their 2021 request.
Kurdish authorities have faced pressure from Russia, the Assad regime, and Turkey over the oilfields.
Russia and the regime have put out a steady stream of propaganda trying to undermine Kurdish authority and to obtain US withdrawal. In both December 2018 and October 2019, Donald Trump ordered the departure of all US troops, but the Pentagon was able on both occasions to push back and secure the deployment of about 1,000 personnel.
In February 2018, a regime attempt to move on a major oilfield in Hasakah Province was repelled by US airstrikes in support of the SDF. Hundreds of pro-Assad troops, including some Russian mercenaries, were killed.
Turkey launched a cross-border military operation in October 2019, taking a corridor extending east across the Euphrates River to the Iraq border.
