The PKK's Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD) transferred 120 armored vehicles the U.S. recently delivered from Syria's northeastern al-Hasakah province to Afrin in the northwest. The convoy reportedly included combat and mine resistant vehicles.
According to information obtained by Anadolu Agency (AA) from local sources, the PYD and its armed People's Protection Units (YPG) plan to dispatch the vehicles along with hundreds of militants to Afrin province near the Turkish border.
The weapons could allegedly be used against Turkish troops stationed in Idlib province as part of a de-escalation deal reached in the Astana talks or in a possible Turkish offensive on Afrin in order to clear the province of terrorist groups. Turkey has already deployed troops to establish observation posts at different locations in Idlib.
"All PYD locations are targets for Turkey," Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said yesterday, portraying Turkey's stance against the terrorist organization.
The PYD's ties with the PKK have been voiced as a serious concern by Ankara countless times, which has been ignored, as the YPG has actively fought against the Daesh terrorist group in Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated many times that a terrorist group fighting another terrorist group is still a terrorist group, saying that al-Qaida's fight with Daesh does not negate the fact that it is a terrorist group.
Yet, even though Daesh has been mostly driven out of its territory in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. is continuing to arm the YPG on the pretext of fighting Daesh. On Tuesday, the Yeni Şafak newspaper reported that a 65-truck U.S. convoy carrying weapons for the YPG had reached al-Hasakah. This came five days after Washington delivered 73 truckloads of arms to the group.
However, with Daesh losing most of its territory in Syria and Iraq, the continued arms supply has raised eyebrows in Ankara. The U.S. has so far delivered nearly 1,000 truckloads of weapons to the YPG, including armored vehicles, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, mortars, sniper rifles and night vision goggles. The declaration of Daesh's demise came from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday in an address broadcast live on state television.