Saudi Arabia in talks with YPG to form new force

Saudi Arabian officials met last Friday with figures from the PKK's Syrian affiliate group in northern Syria to form a coalition with Arab forces, the Anadolu Agency (AA) reported yesterday. AA correspondents in Syria's far northeastern Hasakah province reported that last Friday, three Saudi military consultants went to a village in Ayn al-Arab district, also known as Kobani, to hold meetings with the PKK-linked People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorists.

It was learned that military consultants were in the village to form an Arab force with the Sanadid Forces, who fight for the YPG terrorist group under the U.S.-backed umbrella group, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Saudi officials have reportedly set up communication checkpoints in Hasakah and Qamishli to recruit fighters and are promising $200 to every fighter who joins the improvised force. The new Arab force will be part of the North Syria Federation, which the YPG had unilaterally claimed on March 17, 2016.

The YPG has sent encouraging messages to Saudi Arabia on their social media accounts.

Saudi Arabia reportedly sent truckloads of aid to the YPG via Iraq last month, without explaining its content or revealing if there was any ammunition or weapons inside.

A Saudi minister who is responsible for Gulf relations visited the YPG-held Raqqa province last October with U.S. officials to gather information. The YPG are known to control other small groups in Syria under the name of the SDF. Therefore, the U.S. administration claims that it does not help the YPG, but Arabs who are part of the SDF. HASAKAH, Syria.