FILE PHOTO – A Coalition convoy of U.S. led international coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stops to test fire their M2 machine guns and MK19 grenade launcher in the Middle Euphrates River Valley in the Deir ez-Zor province, Syria, November 22, 2018. Picture taken November 22, 2018. Courtesy Matthew Crane/U.S. Army/Handout via REUTERS
February 18, 2019
AIRBASE IN NORTHEAST SYRIA (Reuters) – The commander of U.S.-backed forces in Syria called on Monday for about 1,000 to 1,500 international forces to remain in Syria to help fight Islamic State and expressed hope that the United States, in particular, would halt plans for a total pullout.
“We would like to have air cover, air support and a force on the ground to coordinate with us,” Mazloum Kobani, the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told a small group of reporters in Syria after talks with senior U.S. generals.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Alison Williams)
