Iraqi Army not joining forces with US-backed SDF

Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi declared victory over Daesh and the restoration of control over the border with Syria.

Spokesman for the Iraqi army’s joint operations command Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasul has told Sputnik that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) claims about them establishing a joint coordination center with the Iraqi army were incorrect.

“What actually happened — there was a meeting of the commander of Iraqi army operations in the area of Jazira with the SDF commander in Syria’s border area. The purpose of the meeting was merely to coordinate, nothing more and nothing less. It is natural when our troops arrive at any location,” Rasul said.

The day before, the SDF announced that it would create a coordination center together with the Iraqi army in order to ensure security on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The announcement came days after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi had declared the end of the country’s fight against Daesh after Iraqi troops had re-established complete control over the border with Syria.

According to SDF’s former spokesman Talal Silo, who fled to Turkey, the group that comprised some 50,000 militants, was created by the US as a guise to provide weapons to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that is banned in Turkey.