U.S. presence in Syria in Kurds' interest

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Ernie Audino, retired American General, says the speculated U.S. presence at the Rmeilan airstrip in Syrian Kurdistan would support the Kurdish forces who are battling the Islamic State (IS).

An American global intelligence agency, Stratfor, released satellite imagery on Friday supporting the claims regarding U.S. military activity in the airstrip.

The airport is located some 70 kilometers to the east of the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishlo in northeast Syria, a region better known as Rojava among the Kurds.

In an interview with K24 on Friday, General Audino said he did not know about the airstrip being used by the American military, but if true, it would prove U.S. commitment to back the Syrian Kurds.

"I believe the USA will continue to support Kurds in Syria because they provide the majority of the trusted and effective combat power on the ground [against the IS]," said Audino.

Continued U.S. support for the Syrian Kurds after IS "will depend primarily on the strategic situation in Syria at that time," the retired general added.

Syrian Kurdish officials deny American military presence on the ground, so does the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), according to an Aljazeera English report dated Friday.

Stratfor images show the Rmeilan runway being extended from 700 meters to 1.3 kilometers.

Commenting on the imagery, Audino said that the runway appeared to be capable of supporting a U.S. C-17 aircraft, "which is a very good aircraft to deliver supplies to soldiers on the ground."

C-17 is a military transportation aircraft that can accommodate 102 troops and more than 75 thousand kilograms of cargo, according to the producing company, Boeing.

Audino, who served a year as combat adviser with a Kurdish Peshmerga brigade in Iraqi Kurdistan, said that, "Our improving this airbase in the YPG-controlled territory must be a worry to Turkey."

Turkey has voiced strong opposition to Kurdish empowerment in neighboring Syria numerous times, often equating the U.S.-backed Kurdish People Protection Units (YPG) to the IS.

An advisor to the Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria, a Kurdish lobbying group in Europe and North America, Audino added that Russian military intervention in Syria could be part of the reason the U.S. is strengthening its foothold in Rojava.

The U.S. administration announced in October 2015 that it was going to send 50 special force operatives to nothern Syria for an advisory role where the YPG has defeated the IS in several fronts over the past year.

Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy to the anti-IS Coalition, said in late November that those forces were going to enter Syria "very soon." However, news of American military ground presence has not been independently verified or officially confirmed.

Editing Ava Homa