The United States troops have reduced joint patrols with the PKK's Syrian offshoot YPG in Syria following Türkiye's airstrikes targeting the terrorist group, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier Gen. Patrick Ryder said the U.S. recognizes Türkiye's security concerns but remains "deeply concerned" about the airstrikes in northern Syria.
Ryder said the Daesh mission continues, but added: "We have reduced the number of partner patrols" with the terrorist group.
The spokesperson also voiced concern about a potential ground operation by Türkiye and said it "would severely jeopardize the hard-fought gains" against Daesh terrorist group.
He called for restraint and said the U.S. maintains regular communication with Ankara.
Recently, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword in northern Iraq and Syria, a cross-border aerial campaign against the terrorist group PKK/YPG, which has illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.
After the air operation was launched Nov. 20, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also signaled a ground operation in northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terror threat.
Türkiye is more determined than ever to secure its Syrian border from attacks by PKK-linked YPG terrorists, President Erdoğan said last week, insisting that a ground operation would start "at the most convenient time."
Türkiye's air operation in northern Iraq and Syria to clear the regions of terrorists is "just the beginning," Erdoğan said, adding that the country will launch a ground operation in Syria "when convenient."
Erdoğan has repeatedly called for a 30-kilometer safe zone to protect Türkiye against cross-border attacks from Syrian territory.
The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., Türkiye and the European Union and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara.
The U.S. primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG'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 that 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. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Türkiye conducted its own counterterrorism operations, over the course of which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.
Meanwhile, Türkiye's U.N. envoy slammed statements about Turkish airstrikes on the YPG/PKK terror group in northern Syria, saying that calling the name of a terror group "democratic" is an insult to democracy.
Feridun Sinirlioğlu was referring to the terrorist PKK's Syrian offshoot YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
"You may change the name of this terrorist organization as many times as you want. But there is no changing its intent," Sinirlioğlu told a Security Council meeting on Syria.
"The statements expressing concern that our counter-terrorism operations against PKK/YPG might adversely affect the fight against Daesh, cannot be more detached from reality," he added.
Sinirlioğlu also said the name change of YPG/PKK cannot change the fact that it is a terror organization, which he said has the blood of "Turkish and Syrian civilians on its hands."
