Pentagon welcomes Danish government decision to deploy troops to northeastern Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The US Department of Defense (DoD) has welcomed Danish government efforts to “share the burden” in US-led, anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition efforts, after Copenhagen announced it would deploy troops to Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria as part of the country’s contribution to military operations globally.

The DoD praised Denmark’s contribution in a statement released on Friday.

“The United States welcomes the announcement by the Danish Government to make a military deployment to Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and to continue to share the burden and responsibilities of this important mission,” read the statement. 

Denmark is a member of the US-led Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS (Islamic State), established to fight militants controlling swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in the summer of 2014. 

ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in December in 2017 and in Syria in March 2019. However, the group now poses a resurgent threat in both countries.

Danish troops will work with the residual US military force in northeast Syria with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to “support stability and security,” added the department. 

“As a founding member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, this deployment demonstrates Denmark's continued commitment to working with our partners, to include the SDF, to ensure ISIS cannot re-emerge,” said the DoD statement.

The decision by the Danish government came after consulting with its parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

Denmark will make “military contributions” to northeastern Syria to join the US-led coalition, Mali to help the United Nations peacemaking mission, Sahel to support the French mission and the North Atlantic and Mediterranean to join a US aircraft carrier group, as well as making more contributions to NATO, the Danish defense ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Copenhagen will also send a 14-member team to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), known by some Kurds as Rojava, reported Xinhua. The team will include doctors, nurses, therapists and support staff, providing medical care to one of the Coalition bases in the NES. 

Kurdish authorities in the area have called for more military and humanitarian assistance from Western countries. 

Mustafa Bali, spokesperson for the SDF, called on the international community on Friday to provide assistance dealing with thousands of IDPs in al-Hol camp, home to thousands of ISIS militant family members. 

“Al-Hol camp is a big international problem. [The] SDF are working with limited resources to maintain living conditions & provide security. We can't do this alone. There must be more humanitarian assistance and international solution,” tweeted Bali.

The anti-ISIS Global Coalition consists of nearly 80 countries. The US has called on other nations to make increased military deployments to Syria – despite President Donald Trump saying multiple times that he will withdraw troops the country.

Denmark’s troop deployment comes weeks after Trump called off his September trip to Denmark over the rejection of his plan to buy Greenland - a Danish territory. He described Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's comments on the decision as “nasty.”