DELIL SOULEIMAN | AFP | Getty Images
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), trained by the US-led coalition, participate in the graduation ceremony of their first regiment in al-Kasrah, in the suburb of eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, on May 21, 2018.
That partnership has long drawn fierce opposition from coalition ally Turkey, which sees the Kurdish militia as tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that’s waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
Turkey has publicly threatened an imminent attack on Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria, and Trump reportedly told the country’s leader that Ankara could do as it pleases.
The Kurds now warn a fight with Turkey will detract from their ability to contain the remaining IS forces.
“A Turkish incursion would force many YPG fighters to shift their efforts away from fighting IS, risking a reversal of recent progress,” Stroul and Cagaptay wrote.
“The war against terrorism has not ended and (the Islamic State group) has not been defeated,” an SDF representative said in a statement. “The decision to pull out under these circumstances will lead to a state of instability and create a political and military void in the region and leave its people between the claws of enemy forces.”
Multiple media reports quoted Kurdish leaders and activists labeling Trump’s move a “betrayal,” pointing to the thousands of Kurdish fighters killed in the anti-IS fight.
The shift is catching attention throughout the Middle East.
“This sudden change in policy is worrying … to all U.S. allies in the region,” former Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told the Washington Post. “It’s a question of trust. This will cause many governments to rethink their alliances with a superpower that can throw them under the bus.”
The shock has rippled to some American forces, where reports from NBC describe “U.S. special forces troops distraught, upset, morally disturbed by having to tell their Kurdish allies in Syria that, because of orders, their promises of defense won’t be kept.”
The Pentagon, White House and State Department did not respond to CNBC requests for comment.
from Just News Viral http://bit.ly/2T8znsN
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