The United States continues to provide military training to the Syrian extension of the PKK terrorist organization, the YPG, in Hassakeh northeastern Syria, according to information obtained from local sources on Wednesday.
The U.S. Special Forces are providing armed training to 240 YPG terrorists in the Malikiyah region, close to the Turkish-Iraqi border, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
In the training, in which several U.S.-made Bradley armored fighting vehicles were used, the terrorists were taught how to operate light and medium weapons.
U.S. helicopters also carried out reconnaissance flights in the training area on Tuesday.
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 the YPG, 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.
Previous terrorist training
The U.S. and France, which are part of the coalition against Daesh, have previously supported YPG/PKK terrorists in Hassakeh and Deir el-Zour, east of the Euphrates River, with armed training and various exercises.
Mount Abdulaziz and the sports complex in Hassakeh have become training grounds as well as some U.S. bases and the Omar oil field in Deir el-Zour.
In previous training, the terrorists were taught how to use weapons, ways of capturing positions with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the ground, mortar attacks, artillery fire, airborne landings and preventing attacks on bases.
At the sports complex in Hassakeh, which serves as a landing area for U.S. helicopters, terrorists are also provided practical airborne training.
French soldiers, acting under the auspices of the U.S. in Syria, also provided artillery fire training to YPG/PKK terrorists.
Since 2015, the U.S. and the coalition forces it leads have provided armed training to thousands of YPG/PKK terrorists.
In addition, last December and this February, U.S. troops carried out joint armed exercises with the terrorist group in the desert.