Under the “Counter-ISIS Train and Equip Fund,” the Pentagon has set aside some $130 million for groups in Syria, including the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group.
According to a Department of Defense document on the justification of its 2026 budget, the fund aims to support the training, equipment and monthly stipends of the U.S.-backed YPG and “Syria Free Army” based in southeastern Syria, along with “vetted partner forces” in Iraq and Lebanon.
Indicating that the allocation includes light weapons along with medical supplies and facility repairs, it said a Daesh "resurgence is a threat to U.S. national interests, the people of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the global community."
Of the $130 million earmarked for Syria, $7.42 million was allocated to the "Syrian Free Army," according to the document, which indicated that the group is expected to "extend its reach" against Daesh elements in the Badiyah Desert region.
The total budget the Pentagon allocated for groups, including the PKK/YPG terrorist group under the pretext of fighting Daesh in Syria, was $147.9 million in 2025 and $156 million in 2024.
For the first time, the Pentagon's budget also includes $15 million in support for the Lebanese Armed Forces to strengthen their counterterrorism capacity, particularly in the southern Litani area near Israel. The document notes that Daesh continues to exploit the porous Syria-Lebanon border for logistics and recruitment.
In its 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union, has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, infants and the elderly.
Last month, the terrorists announced they would lay down their arms and dissolve the organization as part of a “terror-free” initiative launched in Türkiye late last year. Ankara expects the YPG to follow suit and fulfill a March agreement it struck with Damascus to integrate into the new Syrian army after former regime head Bashar Assad was unseated in December.
Washington’s support for the YPG strains Turkish-U.S. ties as Ankara warns its NATO ally against aiding terror elements that threaten its national security, something Washington continues to do despite promising to remove the group from the Turkish border area.
