Trump orders to arm Syrian Kurdish militias to take the capital of the Islamic State

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, authorized providing heavy weapons to the main Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG, for its acronym in Kurdish) to recapture the Syrian city of Al Raqa, the White House spokesman reported. , Sean Spicer.”The president authorized the Department of Defense to provide the Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with whatever is necessary to ensure a clear victory in Al Raqa, Syria,” Spicer noted.Trump’s decision aims to support the operation of the main Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units, integrated into the FSD to recover the city of Al Raqa, a bastion of the Islamic State.The decision goes against the opinion of the Turkish Government, as it considers the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish terrorist organization operating in Turkey.However, the United States views the Kurds as its most effective combat partner against jihadists in the north and east of the country.Asked if Trump had informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his new position, the spokesperson said he was unaware of that information.”We are aware of the concerns of our coalition allies in Turkey, and we want to insist to the Turkish government that the United States is committed to protecting its NATO ally,” Spicer said.Erdogan will visit the billionaire in Washington next week while one of his advisers, Ibrahim Kalin, met with Thomas Shannon, the “number two” at the State Department.The deputy director general for Syria and Lebanon of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Mustafa Yurdaku, assured that for his country “Daesh (Arabic acronym for the Islamic State) is as terrorist as the PKK (Kurdish armed group in Turkey), which is affiliated with the YPG. , and that is why we also reject collaboration with the YPG,” he indicated.The US Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, also indicated that he had held talks with Turkey, specifically to iron out differences over a US alliance with the Syrian Kurdish people in the fight against jihadists.«Let’s solve it. “We’re going to figure out how we’re going to do it,” Mattis said. EFEPost navigation