SNUNY, KRG-Syrian border – Rojava Peshmerga forces trained by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have deployed a new regiment to the KRG-Syrian border, with plans to locate all of their forces to the border area, the spokesperson of the force told Rudaw English, stressing that they will not cross the border into Rojava.
“We have had a unit stationed there, and today a new regiment have gone there, too,” Sharvan Derki told Rudaw English, adding that the first deployment was about two years ago. “But the media has now made the issue bigger than it is. The media says that a force has been deployed to the border so that they will enter Rojava, but it is baseless. We have just changed our locations.”
The troops, known as the Roj force, have been deployed to the Snune area of Shingal region bordering Syrian Kurdistan, also called Rojava.
The order to deploy 500 of the Roj force was made “sometime ago, but the deployment took place just recently,” Derki explained.
“We have about 5,000 Peshmerga, and all of them will be deployed to the border,” he added.
The Rojava Peshmerga in Snune also tried to enter the neighbouring town of Khanasoor, but were stopped by forces affiliated with the ruling Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Rudaw’s reporter in the area said. Both sides have said they are going to negotiate the deployment peacefully and through dialogue.
Relations between the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (PDKS), the political wing of the Roj force, which is largely supported by the KRG, and the PYD in Rojava have remained strained as the PYD-led government has so far refused entrance for the PDKS Peshmerga forces into the Kurdish enclave in Syria.
If permitted entry into northern Syria, the Roj force may be stationed in the Rojava canton of Jazira, bordering the Kurdistan Region with Qamishli as its capital city.
PDKS senior official Kawa Azizi told Rudaw in January that the full deployment of the Peshmerga unit to Rojava could take place as early as June this year when the formation of the troop is completed.
“For the moment we have around 7,000 Peshmerga fighters in the unit which includes both male and female forces but it will be deployed to Rojava when another 7,000 troops are added,” Azizi said.
Azizi’s remarks were made days after President Masoud Barzani told Rudaw in a joint interview that the Rojava Peshmerga have not been sent back to northern Syria in order to avoid bloodshed among Kurds, but he warned that there are limits to his patience.
"Not yet,” President Barzani said when asked whether the KRG had opened the doors for the Rojava Peshmerga to go back to Syria. “I have said it time and again that Kurdish blood should never again be shed by fellow Kurds. Otherwise we would have sent them back a long time ago. But everything has its own limits. Like Arabs say 'even patience has its limits’."
The PYD has recognised its own armed wing of People’s Protection Units (YPG) as the only legitimate military force in Rojava and said the PDKS Peshmerga would be allowed to enter the enclave only under YPG command, fearing conflict between the two rivalling groups if the PDKS-led forces were mobilised in the enclave.
Derki reiterated that they are receiving their commands directly from the KRG Peshmerga and President Barzani as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, making it clear they make no moves without a direct order from President Barzani.
“Our forces are part of the Zeravani forces,” he said referring to the KRG forces, “and therefore are under the command of the Kurdistan Peshmerga, and his excellency President [Barzani]. We would not move our forces without direct command from the President.”
Derki said that they have received training from the US-led international coalition against ISIS as part of the KRG Peshmerga.
The coalition is also providing training, advice and equipment to the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria, now focused on its military campaign to isolate Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS in Syria.
It is not clear as of yet whether the Rojava Peshmerga will also join the forces who are anticipated to launch an eventual offensive against ISIS in the city of Raqqa.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, told reporters on Wednesday that the plans for Raqqa have not been finalized as of yet, but indicated that the Kurdish and Arab elements of the SDF could be part of the Raqqa operation.
The SDF already launched an ongoing offensive to isolate and eventually liberate Raqqa in November, and have since announced three phases. The most recent phase is cutting Raqqa off from Deir ez-Zur and the Iraqi border.
Townsend said that Raqqa has not been isolated as of yet and that buys the coalition some time to discuss different aspects and the nature of the forces that would be involved, including the possible participation of Turkey in the offensive.
A PDKS delegation, headed by its leader Ibrahim Biro, is currently on a visit to Washington to discuss the situation of the Syrian Kurdistan with the new US administration.
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