Coalition to continue providing 'material support, training' to SDF

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Despite Turkey’s claims to the contrary, the US will continue supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and provide weapons and training, the Jerusulam Post reported a statement from a correspondence within the coalition.

After a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Erdogan’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday claimed Trump made a pledge to Erdogan that weapon supplies to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) would be halted.

In response to the Jerusalem Post inquiry about the said remarks, the Public Affairs Office of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, explained it “continues to provide material support, training, advice, and assistance to the SDF in their ongoing effort to defeat [the Islamic State (IS)] in Syria.”

The US-led coalition will continue to provide assistance to groups comprising the SDF in eastern Syria “as long as they remain committed to the goal of fighting and defeating [IS].” 

Hundreds of American troops have been on an “advise and train” mission with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)-dominated SDF since former US President Barack Obama signed an order in 2014 to support the Kurdish group with airstrikes during the siege of Kobani.

The coalition emphasizes that the support is for the SDF which is a multi-ethnic group fighting IS. The wording implies that the weapons are not sent to the Kurdish YPG even though the group is a major component of the SDF.

Thus, the policy allows Washington to provide assistance to the ground forces to defeat IS, while containing NATO ally Turkey who endlessly complains about the US backing of the Syrian Kurds.

In fact, on Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said his government hoped the United States would end its partnership with the Kurdish forces in Syria.

“Our expectation is that [the US] ends this partnership in no time and returns to its true ally [Turkey],” Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul before his departure to the UK.

He argued now that IS was about to be eradicated, Washington was no longer “obliged” to support the YPG which Ankara views as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Last May, before the launch of a campaign to capture the IS capital of Raqqa in eastern Syria, Trump— much to the dismay of Ankara—authorized the Pentagon to ship more advanced and heavier weapons as well as vehicles to the YPG.

Fearful of similar demands by Kurds at home, Turkey has repeatedly called on the US to cease backing the YPG which is the primary armed forces of the self-declared Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria, known as Rojava.

The two NATO allies’ relations have deteriorated over the US-Kurdish alliance as an aide to Erdogan went as far as to threaten to strike American forces embedded with the YPG with missiles.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Ari Khalidi contributed to this report)