Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu denounced the USA as “two-faced” and said the badges were “unacceptable”. And he downplayed the dispute with Ankara, saying he would not call it a crisis in USA relations with Turkey.
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Many members of Tallaa’s army were killed, though he would not specify how many on the record.
And this week, the first of 250 members of the USA special operations forces were set to arrive in northeast Syria to support the fight, joining dozens of advisers already on the ground.
The photo of an American soldier with a YPG patch on his arm will undoubtedly inflame tensions with the Turkish government who claims the YPG is just a branch of the Turkish Workers Party, a designated terrorist organization.
While it is not unusual for USA special operations forces to wear the insignia of partner forces, Warren said in this case it was inappropriate to do so given the “political sensitivities” around the issue. Warren confirmed that all of the individuals in the photos were U.S. Special forces troops.
Syrian Democratic forces and an armed man in uniform identified by them as USA special operations forces are seen in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa on May 25, 2016. At least one photo was allegedly taken at Al-Fatisah, a small village 25 kilometres from the city. They are there to advise and assist those forces with command, logistical and air support needs, as far as he knows no US forces have engaged in combat firefights.
A VOA reporter embedded with the SDF on the front line said that anti-IS forces are using midrange and heavy weapons against the militants.
Rami Abdel Rahman, from the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said ISIS is “concentrating 2,000 fighters along the front lines north of Raqqa” to repel the offensive. The American soldiers photographed alongside YPG troops are trying to retake Raqaa, the Syrian city that serves as ISIS’s de facto capital.
The officials were speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Agence France-Presse published photos earlier in the day purporting to show USA special operations forces riding in a pickup truck across a rural town less than 40 miles from ISIS’ de facto capital Raqqa.
SDF statements posted on the group’s official Twitter account said the operation was focused on liberating northern Raqqa, to protect the largely-Kurdish areas to the north from ISIS attack.
The twin offensives are two of the most significant ground assaults against the extremists since they declared a self-styled “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria in 2014. To his knowledge, U.S. Special Forces in Syria have yet to fire a round in working in support of local groups, Warren said.
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The Pentagon’s $500 million rebel-training program, conceived by President Barack Obama two years ago, has been plagued with problems from the start.
