The United States on Tuesday announced that it reinitiated joint patrols with the PKK terrorist organization’s Syrian wing, the YPG, after initially decreasing the number of patrols due to Türkiye’s air operation in Syria.
Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder told a press briefing that patrols resumed “in full” on Dec.9.
“Our focus is on working with those local partners to prevent the reconstitution of ISIS,” Ryder said, using an alternative acronym for Daesh.
He also underlined that “Türkiye remains a very close NATO ally. We’ll continue to consult and work closely with Türkiye.”
The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., Türkiye and the European Union. Washington’s support for its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara.
The U.S. primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria to fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG terrorist group’s presence in northern Syria. Ankara has long objected to the U.S.’ support for the YPG, a group that poses a threat to Türkiye and terrorizes local people, destroying their homes and forcing them to flee.
Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to YPG terrorists, despite its NATO ally’s security concerns.
Last month, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword in northern Iraq and Syria – a cross-border aerial campaign against the PKK/YPG terror group – which has illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.
The country’s air operation followed a PKK/YPG terrorist attack on Nov. 13 on Istanbul’s crowded İstiklal Street that killed six people and left 81 injured.
After the air operation was launched, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also signaled an impending ground operation in northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terrorist threat, adding, “This is not limited to just an air operation.”
The president specified northern Syria’s PKK/YPG-controlled Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (also known as Kobani) regions as possible targets to clear of terrorists.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.
