{"id":56348,"date":"2019-09-08T18:47:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T18:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/08\/to-set-up-safe-zone-us-wades-into-muddled-syria-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:59:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:59:45","slug":"to-set-up-safe-zone-us-wades-into-muddled-syria-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/09\/08\/to-set-up-safe-zone-us-wades-into-muddled-syria-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"To set up \u2018safe zone,\u2019 US wades into muddled Syria politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TAL ABYAD, Syria \u2014 U.S. flags fluttered on the back of coalition armored vehicles as they whizzed past tiny hamlets in northeastern Syria. Once part of the sprawling territories controlled by the Islamic State group, the areas are now under threat of an attack from Turkey, which considers these villages\u2019 liberators, the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish-led forces, to be terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To forestall violence between its two allies along the border it has helped clear of IS militants, Washington has upped its involvement<\/a> in this part of Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The armored vehicles patrolled border areas<\/a>, zigzagging for miles between golden fields and mud and brick houses, escorted by their Syrian allies. U.S. troops inspected Kurdish-controlled bases to ensure trenches and sand berms, considered a threat by Turkey, have been removed. Then a drone, operated by the U.S. troops, filmed the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\t