US eyes arms for YPG fighters in Syria even after Raqqa’s fall

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis left open on June 27 the possibility of longer-term assistance to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, saying the U.S. may need to supply them weapons and equipment even after the capture of Raqqa from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).


NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as a threat for its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has said Mattis assured it in a letter that the United States would eventually take back the weapons it was giving them once ISIL was defeated.

Mattis, in his first public remarks on the issue, did not directly dispute that account.

“We’ll do what we can,” Mattis told reporters during his flight to Germany, when asked about weapons recovery.
 [hurriyetdailynews.com/Reuters]
27/6/17
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