A terrorist that surrendered to Turkish security forces and was responsible for the press office of the YPG/PKK terrorist organization during Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring, admitted that the U.S. still gives the group military training as well as food, clothes, health equipment and arms.
According to Yeni Şafak daily, the 23-year-old with the initials M.D. was a member of the terrorist organization since 2014 and surrendered in late April this year. M.D. stated that allegedly special units from the YPG's so-called Anti-terror Forces (YAT) were trained by the U.S. in Syria’s Rmeilan and Al-Malikiyah (Derik). She further added that another group of the organization was trained in Syria’s Hassakeh after Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring.
Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate YPG terrorists from the area east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria to secure Turkey's borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria's territorial integrity.
The U.S. support for the YPG in Syria has become one of the stumbling blocks in bilateral ties between the two NATO allies.
The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union, has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than four decades and has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
Saying that intelligence activities were conducted in line with the Americans’ intelligence, M.D. stated that the terrorist organization produced armed drones in the northern Syrian town of Ain al-Arab (Kobani) and that the U.S. gave them MG-58 machine guns before taking them back again. M.D. also mentioned that the YPG sold oil to the U.S., Russia and the Bashar Assad regime.
Earlier this month, an oil agreement between an American company and the YPG in northern Syria was signed and harshly condemned by Turkey, who accused the U.S. of "financing terrorism," saying that the country’s natural resources belong to the Syrian people.
Syria produced around 380,000 barrels of oil per day before the civil war erupted following a crackdown on protests in 2011, with Iran and Russia backing Bashar Assad’s regime and the U.S. supporting the opposition.
After announcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria twice, U.S. President Donald Trump has added more complexity to the U.S. military's mission in the region by claiming a right to Syria's oil.
A quiet arrangement has existed between the terrorists and the Syrian regime, whereby Damascus buys the surplus through middlemen in a smuggling operation that has continued despite political differences. The oil was expected to be a bargaining chip for YPG terrorists to negotiate a deal with the Syrian regime, which unsuccessfully tried to reach the oil fields to retake them from Daesh.
About 70% of Syria's oil resources lie within the territories currently occupied by the YPG. For example, the terrorist organization holds the eastern part of Deir el-Zour province, located near the Iraqi border, and is one of Syria's largest energy sources. There are 11 large oil fields on the eastern side of the Euphrates, which cuts the province into two. These oil fields make up around one-third of the energy sources in Syria.