BRITISH special forces are secretly aiding CIA-backed insurgents in south-western Syria, it emerged yesterday.

Troops from an unspecified unit have been aiding the New Syrian Army (NSA) at the al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq, close to Jordan, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The NSA is a US-armed group made up of Syrian army deserters supposedly fighting Islamic State (Isis), but it is allied with an anti-government Free Syrian Army (FSA) faction, the Ahmad al-Abdo Martyrs Brigades and Battalions.

NSA First Lieutenant Mahmoud al-Saleh said British troops had frequently crossed the border to help his forces.
“They helped us with logistics like building defences to make the bunkers safe,” he said.

The NSA claimed to be advancing against Isis towards Bir Qassab, to the west of al-Tanf, yesterday, while Ahmad al-Abdo captured the village of Tel Makhoul on Sunday.

If true, the reports indicate a dangerous mission creep for British forces stationed in Iraq. Parliament voted in December to join the US-led “coalition” of air forces bombing Isis in Syria and Iraq — but with no suggestion of deploying ground troops.

In February three SAS commandos were injured in fighting with Isis on a secret mission near the north-western Iraqi city of Mosul, the extremists’ stronghold near the Syrian and Turkish borders.

Britain’s Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “This latest revelation shows that people have been lied to. Special forces are fighting on the ground in Syria despite our government claiming this is not the case.

“It highlights once again the contempt for democracy shown by those who support successive wars.

“As we await the Chilcot report, it is a travesty of the democratic process to keep involving British troops in undeclared and unacknowledged fighting.”

Meanwhile Isis suffered further setbacks in northern Syria, with the army liberating Bur Ambaj village, on the road to Tabqa and Raqqa.

The Kurdish YPG, the US Defence Department’s horse in the race to Raqqa, continued advancing in the other direction, north towards the Turkish border.

After fierce fighting the YPG liberated the village of Awn Al-Dadat, north of the strategic town of Manbij, cutting the main Isis supply and reinforcement route from the border town of Jarabulus.

There were also heavy clashes near Karsan and Hyah, east of Manbij, overnight, while to the west Isis attacked FSA forces in Naddah and Al-Buhooth villages, near the key border town of Azaz.

With the southern road from Manbij to Raqqa also severed over the weekend, as many as 700 extremists are now surrounded on three sides.