The United States is likely to anger Türkiye again as U.S. Central Forces commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla visited the al-Hol and al-Roj camps of displaced people in Syria, where YPG/PKK terrorist group holds the families of Daesh terrorists. CENTCOM said in a written statement on Wednesday that the visit took place on Aug. 21.
The visit involved "interactions with camp administrators as well as camp residents themselves to observe firsthand the current humanitarian conditions, continued improvements in camp security and repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration efforts to return residents to their countries of origins," the statement said. The CENTCOM commander emphasized cooperation with the YPG/PKK and also met with the ringleaders of the terrorist organization.
Located in the Hassakeh province in northeastern Syria, al-Hol and al-Roj camps for displaced people accommodate families of Daesh members who fled the eastern Deir ez-Zor province due to clashes. The U.N. and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have voiced concerns over the humanitarian conditions in the two camps.
Just last week, the U.S. military held a joint armed exercise with members of the YPG. The exercises with dozens of PKK/YPG terrorists were held in the Qamishli region of Hassakeh province, local sources said. Anti-aircraft weapons, U.S.-made Bradley armored combat vehicles and heavy weapons were used in the drill. The terrorists deployed from helicopters, used anti-tank missiles on fixed and mobile targets, and sniper rifles with thermal scopes. Once the training was completed, a group of 150 people were transported to the U.S. base at the al-Omar oil field in Syria's eastern Deir ez-Zor province. It was noted that the terrorists transferred to that base will be given full military equipment in the coming days.
The U.S. Army frequently provides military training and supplies to members of the PKK/YPG terror group in bases located in the Mount Abdulaziz region of Hassakeh as well as in the eastern al-Omar oil field and Conoco area of Deir ez-Zor province, all regions occupied by the terrorists, which Washington calls its “partner forces.” Earlier, it deployed more reinforcements to U.S. bases in the region as a convoy of nearly 50 trucks, tankers and armored trucks delivered fuel, weapons and ammunition to the U.S. forces stationed at Koniko natural gas field and al-Omer oil field.
Since the start of the year, the U.S. Army sent reinforcements to bases and stations in Tel Beydar and Ash Shaddadi on Jan. 6, 8, 22 and 25, again on June 19 and 20 and July 11. Last month, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on Türkiye’s NATO allies to take a concrete stance against all terrorist groups, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a military spending bill that ensures continued funding for the YPG and authorized the continuation of joint operations from the end of 2023 through the entirety of 2024. The bill encompasses all Syrian groups, including the PKK/YPG. It would also include funding for non-PKK/YPG groups, including local Syrian military forces at a strategic U.S. military installation along the Syria-Jordan-Iraq border.
The PKK has been waging a bloody terror campaign against Türkiye since the 1980s, and it’s considered a terrorist group by Ankara, the U.S. and the European Union. Its terrorists have established safe havens in northern Iraq and Syria and frequently launch attacks on Turkish soil and local areas. They have been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Despite Ankara’s documentation of the fact that the YPG and PKK are, in actuality, the same terrorist group, consistent U.S. support for the terrorists remains a source of significant strain between the allies.
Since 2016, Ankara has been leading counteroffensives against the terrorist groups and striving to establish a 30-kilometer-deep (19-mile-deep) security line, for which Russia and the U.S. committed to providing support in October 2019. The same month, Türkiye launched its Operation Peace Spring against the PKK/YPG and Daesh, another terrorist group, in northern Syria, with Washington promising that the YPG would withdraw from the region.
The U.S. military then evacuated all its bases in the area, prioritizing stationing near oil fields. It, however, maintained its support, namely military training and truckloads of equipment, to the terrorist group under the guise of a joint fight against Daesh. It also conducts regular patrols with the PKK/YPG.
