Turkey Backs Russian-Iranian Plan For Syrian Safe Zones – U.S. Responds By Arming Kurds
May 11, 2017
The U.S. plans to arm a Kurdish militia in Syria with heavy weaponry, a move likely made to provoke Turkey over its planned establishment of “safe zones” in Syria. The militia has ties to a group that has been previously described by the U.S. and Turkey as a terrorist organization.
WASHINGTON, D.C.– On Tuesday, President Donald Trump continued to mimic the Obama administration’s stance on Syria by approving a plan to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Little is known about the details of the plan, other than that it will involve the delivery of heavy weaponry to the YPG. Information on what type of weapons will be provided and how they will be delivered has not been made public. A U.S. official told NBC News that Trump’s approval would allow “the process to begin to function.”
While the U.S. has armed the Kurds with “lighter” weaponry in the past, this new move has already incensed the Turkish government, which considers the YPG to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan’s Worker Party (PKK), an organization described by both Turkey and the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Turkey repeatedly bombed the YPG in the past for this very reason.
