The mass exodus was witnessed in the towns of Sheikh Issa, Mare’ and other towns in the northern province of Aleppo, as a result of the IS attacks on these areas that are under the control of the US -backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
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Washington’s support of Kurdish fighters in Syria in the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists has angered Ankara, especially after AFP pictures last week revealed USA commandos wearing patches of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) outlawed by Turkey.
Erdogan, speaking in the majority Kurdish city Diyarbakir, accused the USA of being dishonest because of its support for the militia and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
The US, seeking to avoid a rift with ally Turkey, had announced Friday that special operations troops in northern Syria would henceforth stop wearing the badge of the YPG guerrillas.
Ankara accuses the YPG militia of being a terrorist organization connected to the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which Turkish security forces are now fighting. The US sees them as allies against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
The AFP report says that the troops are engaged in combat and are not just in a support role. “I am someone who believes that politics should be conducted honestly”, chided Erdogan.
“Wearing an insignia of a terrorist organization by US soldiers, who are our ally and are assertive about fighting against terrorism, is unacceptable”, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, according to the Anadolu Agency. “Therefore, our allies, those who are with us in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, can not and should not send their own soldiers to Syria, with insignias of the” Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit, he said, according to the Hurriyet Daily News. The Kurdish militia is widely acknowledged as among most effective against Islamist militants in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not pleased with what some United States special forces have been doing lately.
It had always been public knowledge that around 200 USA commandos are in northern Syria helping local militia target the Islamic State extremist group’s de facto capital Raqa and guiding in coalition air strikes.
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So, how will this spat between Turkey and the U.S. impact the ongoing war in Syria?
