Turkey and Russia Judged Bigger Risk Than ISIS for U.S. Troops in Syria

But the introduction of hundreds of Turkish-backed forces quickly strained this longstanding system, as shown by the accidental Turkish shelling close to an American outpost near the Turkey-Syria border in early October. In one of the military documents obtained by The Times, American officials wrote after that attack that they “cannot rule out” that Turkish military forces “will miscalculate U.S. force dispositions again.”

Turkish-backed fighters are often poorly managed by the Turkish military, said several Defense Department officials, who added that the Russian military is far more reliable in navigating the difficulties of such a contested battlefield.

To underscore the fact that the battlefield in northern Syria is continuously changing, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the head of the military’s Central Command, said in a recent interview that protecting the oil fields might ultimately draw a larger challenge from Syrian Army troops west of the Euphrates. “I’d expect at some point the regime will come forward to that ground,” General McKenzie said.

But for now, General McKenzie said, the remaining American forces in northern Syria, working alongside several thousand allied militia members from the Syrian Democratic Forces, will be able to carry out “effective” counterterrorism missions against ISIS in that part of the country. Last month, the forces restarted operations against the terrorist group, after groups of ISIS fighters began operating again in the chaos created by the Turkish incursion and American retreat.

“We have enough to very capably, with our S.D.F. partners, pursue a counterterrorism platform against ISIS,” General McKenzie said.

He noted that the United States maintains a strong capability for reconnaissance and combat air power to protect American forces and to carry out strike missions when necessary. “We have everything we need,” General McKenzie said in the interview.

The idea that Syrian troops could move to retake ground from the Americans is nothing new.

In February 2018, about 500 Syrian troops and dozens of vehicles, backed by Russian contractors, attacked the Conoco gas plant near Deir al-Zour. American commandos there, alongside Kurdish forces and backed by waves of American aircraft, fought back, killing hundreds of the fighters.

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