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The Grand Turk | |||
Top US commander for the Middle East visits Turkey after Kobane | |||
2016-05-24 | |||
A top U.S. commander who secretly visited northern Syria on May 21 in order to witness efforts to build up local forces in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has arrived in Turkey in a surprise visit, daily Hürriyet reported on its website. Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), made a surprise visit to Kobane and met U.S. military advisers working with Syrian Arab fighters and the leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Votel’s visit comes at a time when Ankara has been calling on the U.S. and its Western allies to stop supporting the PYD, which is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but Washington has provided air power and small arms ammunition to the militant group, saying the PYD and the YPG are “reliable” partners in the fight against ISIL.
U.S. special operations forces are helping train fighters in Syria to combat ISIL as Washington leads a coalition of countries in an air war against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The United States has roughly 200 advisers on the ground in Syria, but no combat units. Votel’s visit comes as the first of 250 more U.S. special operations forces are beginning to arrive. Kurds play a dominant role in the U.S.-backed SDF, providing the core of the forces that have pushed back ISIL in the country’s northeast. The SDF has a total of about 25,000 Kurdish fighters and about 5,000 Arab fighters. Washington is pushing to bring more Arab forces into the group. | |||
Posted by:Steve White |
#2 #1 It would help if the PYD and YPG would explicitly swear off any links with terrorist groups within Turkey, but that's asking a lot right now... Would the Grand Turk stop bombing them? Bombing Kurds seems to be Erdogan's default response. Oops! Entered the 'nym and it submitted (early) for a double post... |
Posted by: magpie 2016-05-24 12:07 |
#1 It would help if the PYD and YPG would explicitly swear off any links with terrorist groups within Turkey, but that's asking a lot right now... |
Posted by: magpie 2016-05-24 12:02 |