Coalition airdrops arms to Syrian rebels as Damascus launches own offensive

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The US-led coalition has made its first arms airdrop to non-Kurdish forces in Syria to help them in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), especially in light of recent offensives against the radical group in parts of the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday that a coalition cargo plane dropped light arms, ammunition and anti-tank missiles to the besieged town of Marea in northwestern Syria.

This air drop constitutes the first time in Syria the US has air dropped weapons to anti-ISIS fighters who are not belonging to the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) or the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition against ISIS.

The airdrop comes on the heels of recent ISIS advances in northwestern Syria, encircling the town Marea and approaching closer to Azaz.

It also coincides with US support for an SDF offensive that aims to close off the Manbij pocket and effectively cut ISIS off from the border.

Turkey has opposed SDF and YPG advances in the area as it does not want to lose control of the 60-mile border territory.

In February Turkish artillery shelled YPG forces who were advancing against other Islamist militants in Azaz and forced them to withdraw.

All eyes are at the moment on the SDF who launched an operation against ISIS in the northern countryside of Raqqa province, pushing the group further back into the provincial capital of the same name.

As in Manbij they are being closely backed by US Special Forces advisors and coalition warplanes.

This reportedly prompted the Syrian Army on Friday to begin targeting ISIS in that same general area as part of Damascus’s bid to, according to the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper, putting “a foot in the area without leaving it completely to the Americans’ allies.”

The army is presently seeking to retake the town of Tabqa, 60 kilometers west of the city of Raqqa, from ISIS, which is also a mission aim of the SDF.