By Brandon Turbeville

As the Syrian military makes massive gains throughout the country, particularly in the east, it is now painfully obvious that the United States and its Western allies are desperately trying to prevent the Assad government from reaching the Iraqi border and unifying Syria.

One need only look at the strategic positioning of U.S. and allied troops as well as Western-backed terrorists to see that this is the case. For instance, the presence of the United States at al-Tanf was strategically planned to block Syrian military forces from linking up with Iraqi military forces and, thus, Iranian forces via the Damascus-Baghdad highway. This much is evidenced by the fact that the U.S. forces stationed there have repeatedly shot down and attacked anti-ISIS forces moving in their direction under the ridiculous guise of “self-defense.”

In an interview with Sharmine Narwani, a U.S. military colonel claimed that the U.S. forces are not in al-Tanf to fight Assad but to fight ISIS. If the Syrian military shows itself willing and able to fight ISIS, the colonel said, the U.S. would have no reason to have troops stationed there. The idea that the Syrian government wants to fight and defeat ISIS is not in question. Neither is its ability to fight, assuming the West would stop arming and directing the terrorist organization and continually acting as its air force. Indeed, the Syrian military is ramping up its campaign against ISIS in the east. Still, the American forces have repeatedly attacked the SAA in its attempt to defeat the terrorist organization, a fact which contradicts Colonel Dillon’s claims.

So what is the real reason the Americans are based at al-Tanf? As mentioned earlier, the goal is to block Syrian military forces from linking up with Iraqi military forces and, thus, Iranian forces via the Damascus-Baghdad highway.

Take a look at the map commissioned by Sharmine Narwani. It shows three main border crossings between Syria and Iraq. The northern border is held by Kurdish forces whose goal is an independent state and who are backed by the United States for the purposes of federalizing Syria. The middle border crossing is known as the Homs-Baghdad highway. This crossing cuts from government-held territory to Deir-ez-Zour and through the ISIS heartland. Obviously, this crossing is unusable due to the fact that ISIS maintains control of a vast amount of territory through which the highway travels. The third border crossing is located in the south of the country and is the Damascus-Baghdad highway that travels through at-Tanf.