Washington, DC. The Pentagon is never one to let a war go to waste and with high stakes in Syria for America’s corporate priorities, team USA continues to “help” world peace by flooding the region with arms.
American small arms have been delivered to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, as Syrian Democratic Forces’ prepare for an upcoming offensive on the Islamic State group’s “capital” in Raqqa.
US President Donald Trump this month approved arming the fighters from the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) which is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, drawing strong condemnation from Turkey, a NATO ally. Turkish President Erdogan in person requested US special envoy McGurk be removed from his country over the action.
Erdogan’s concerns about the YPG were significant enough for Ankara to launch its own military operation inside Syria in August 2016, dubbed Euphrates Shield. The operation had the dual goals of targeting IS and the Kurdish militia, particularly to prevent the YPG from controlling a contiguous strip of territory along the Syria-Turkey border.
Ankara accuses the YPG of being the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody separatist war with Turkey leading to tens of thousands of deaths.The American military has begun to transfer small arms and vehicles to the Kurdish elements, The weapons include AK-47s and small-caliber machine guns.
The Trump administration has sought to placate Ankara by saying the weapons will be handed out judiciously, and that it will monitor them to make sure they don’t go into Turkey. The Pentagon insists the SDF are the only fighting force currently on the ground capable of capturing the ISIS capital city.