US Begins Arming Kurdish Forces In Northern Syria
MEP: The United States has begun sending small arms to Kurdish fighters battling the Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group in northern Syria, despite concerns from NATO-ally Turkey.
Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said the Kurdish fighters received small arms and vehicles from the U.S. military. He believed the arms were distributed earlier on Tuesday.
The weapons aim to help them drive Daesh from Raqqa.
President Donald Trump this month approved arming fighters from the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), drawing strong condemnation from Turkey.
Ankara says the YPG is the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is also considered a terrorist group by the US and the EU.
Iraq’s Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have received some of the most extensive support from the coalition, including training, arms and air support. They have also been accused of destroying Arab property and forcing Arab residents out of dozens of villages retaken from Daesh.
On Monday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 13 people have been killed in suspected US-led coalition air strikes on Raqqa and suspected rocket attacks fired by the Kurdish Ghadab al-Furat group.
