Pentagon denies US base at Kobani in Syria's Kurdish-led northeast
A spokesperson publicly dismissed rumors that US troops would establish a base in the Syrian Kurdish stronghold border town, which remains under threat by Turkey-backed rebels.
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon spokesperson on Friday publicly denied the United States is building a military base at Kobani, a strategic town near the Turkish border that holds symbolic importance for the country's beleaguered Kurdish-led faction.
"When it comes to US forces in Kobani, there's no plan or intent right now to set up any base," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.
The Pentagon's denial came in response to local claims on social media after video circulated appearing to show contractors erecting concrete blast walls around a disused hotel in Kobani. Local sources emphasized that the blast walls resembled those used around US bases in the region, and said that US troops had patrolled in the area in recent weeks.
Anxieties are running high in areas of Syria's northeast that remain under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance of local militias backed by the US military in a mutual effort to contain the Islamic State group. Nearby, Syrian rebel factions backed by the Turkish military have continued to press attacks against the SDF-held city after taking control of the city of Manbij last month following a US-brokered withdrawal on the part of the SDF, which had controlled the city since 2016.
