US sends new military convoy to support YPG after Turkish airstrikes
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULMay 06, 2017 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
May 06, 2017 12:00 am
Some 250 U.S. soldiers and 48 military vehicles have entered the town of Malikiyah in Eastern Syria, near the Turkish border, to support the outlawed terrorist group PKK's Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian Local Coordination Committee (LCC) reported Friday.
According to an LCC statement on its Twitter account, the convoy entered Syria through Iraq's Semalka border gate on Friday afternoon and reached Malikiyah, located east to the city of Hasakah.
Local sources reported that the U.S. has provided 22 truckloads of weapon, ammunition, and vehicle to the terror group since the Turkish airstrikes on YPG positions last week. It was also revealed that U.S.-made TOW missiles were used in retaliation to Turkish army after airstrikes by the PKK.
Turkish military forces carried out airstrikes on PKK targets located on Mt. Sinjar in northern Iraq and Mt. Karachok in northeastern Syria last week
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced that the targets were hit to prevent the group from sending terrorists, arms, ammunition, and explosives to Turkey. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 89 terrorists, including four high-level militants.
Ankara has been warning the PKK to withdraw its forces from the Sinjar area for a long time now. Both Sinjar and Karachok are located some 90 kilometers south of the border with Turkey.
Following the airstrikes, U.S. forces alongside YPG terrorists started patrolling part of the Turkey-Syria border.
Meanwhile, in response to a question regarding the Turkish attitude against the YPG, Col. Dorrian acknowledged that the PKK was part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in a rather, controversial slip-up. The spokesman later corrected his wording when alerted by a journalist.
Despite Turkey's objections, Washington has long been providing the PKK with military equipment, including mortars, grenade launchers, infantry rifle, Humvees and armored vehicles. The U.S. also sent FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank weapons to the terror group, which it refused to sell to Ankara.
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