(ANTIWAR.COM) – According to a report from Asharq Al-Awsat, a senior Biden advisor met with a group of Syrians to go over what a Biden administration’s Syria policy would look like. The advisor said Biden would keep a U.S. military presence in northeast Syria to counter Russia and keep reconstruction funds from the country unless “meaningful” political reform occurs.
The U.S. has a small occupation force in northeast Syria to control oil fields, estimated to be around 600 troops. The U.S. soldiers have had confrontations with both Syrian and Russian forces. The advisor said Biden would maintain this military presence because it “is a deterrent to Russian and regime airstrikes.”
On the other side of Syria, in the northwest Idlib province, Turkey backs opposition fighters and is preventing the Syrian government from retaking the province. Idlib is mostly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formally known as al-Nusra Front, or al-Qaeda in Syria.
