BEIRUT/ISTANBUL, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The U.S.-led coalition is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force of 30,000 personnel, the coalition said on Sunday, a move that has added to Turkish anger over U.S. support for Kurdish-dominated forces in Syria. The force, whose inaugural class is currently being trained, will be deployed at the borders of the area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units). The force will deploy along the border with Turkey to the north, the Iraqi border to the southeast, and along the Euphrates River Valley, which broadly acts as the dividing line separating the U.S.-backed SDF and Syrian government forces backed by Iran and Russia. U.S. support for the SDF has put enormous strain on ties with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - a group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, Turkey and the United States. '”

Syria’s main Kurdish groups have emerged as one of the few winners in the Syrian war and are working to entrench their autonomy over large parts of northern Syria. The U.S-led coalition in Syria says it has recruited 230 new cadets for a border security force it's establishing together with the Syrian Kurdish-led opposition fighters to secure areas recently liberated from Islamic State militants. The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Islamic State, and has said it is prepared to stay in the country until it is certain Islamic State is defeated, that stabilization efforts can be sustained, and there is meaningful progress in U.N.-led peace talks on ending the conflict. The Syrian government in Damascus has declared the United States an illegal occupation force, and its SDF allies as “traitors.” A top Syrian Kurdish politician told Reuters last week the United States appeared in no hurry to leave Syria.
Turkey threatens to "strangle" the United States-backed Syrian Border Security Force "before it's even born", while Syria vows to crush it and expel American military personnel from the country. Russia called the plans "a plot to dismember Syria".