Pentagon: U.S. will support Kurdish militia after Raqqa fighting

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the Pentagon will continue to support the Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, in their battle against the Islamic State after Raqqa, Syria is freed.


During a news conference on Tuesday, Mattis said the recovery of weapons and equipment supplied to the Kurdish militia is dependent on several factors, including the success against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.

In response to a question about the Turkish government commenting that the United States would recover weapons from the Kurdish militia, Mattis said the U.S. Defense Department would continue supporting the YPG after Raqqa is freed.

"They had plenty of weapons. They were beating ISIS in every battle. They never lost an inch of terrain to them," Mattis said. "What we gave them were weapons for urban fighting, basically. These are weapons -- number one, we'll be recovering them during the battle, repairing them. When they don't need certain things anymore we'll replace those with something they do need."
 [upi.com]
28/6/17
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