Baladi News – (Mona Ali)
The White House has agreed to supply Kurdish PKK fighters with weapons to support the restoration of the state-run al-Rigga, despite Ankara's strong opposition to the move, a US official and the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Despite Washington's assurances to its ally Ankara, but in practice it supports its biggest enemies, SDF and the People's Protection Units, the Syrian arm of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Trump’s administration, as well as his predecessor Obama, did not take military plans offered by Turkey to liberate Raqqa without the participation of Kurdish separatist forces into consideration. Instead, it prevented the Turkey-backed Syrian "Euphrates Shield" forces from liberating the city of Manbij in Aleppo countryside, which is the gateway to the west of the Euphrates towards the city of Raqqa.
US Defense Secretary Jim Matisse expressed optimism yesterday after a telephone conversation with the Turkish defense minister regarding the fight against ISIS, but he did not reveal any progress in resolving a discord over the US support for Kurdish militants. Matisse acknowledged the impasse, but said he was confident that Washington and Ankara would overcome it. "But we will work it out ... War sometimes doesn't give you all good options. That's the nature of war. It's not a good situation," he said.
According to press reports, the "battle of Raqqa" will remain pending awaiting the outcomes of the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Washington and his meeting with President Trump on May 16, but Trump’s approval before the visit to arm the separatist Kurds gives a bad indicator, analysts said.
What is the impact of these interactions on the battle of Raqqa and the fate of Syria and its territorial integrity, which Washington insists on showing respect for?!
Syrian journalist Iyad Issa said that "the American decision to arm the Kurdish units was not taken only prior to President Erdogan's visit to the United States, but with the arrival of a Turkish delegation, consisting of Chief of General Staff Khulosi Akkar, And the head of the intelligence agency Hakan Vidan, to Washington yesterday to arrange Erdogan's visit in the middle of this month. The delegation met with national security adviser Herbert Raymond McMaster, which sends a very clear message that the United States prefers an alliance with Kurdish separatists to rid Raqqa of ISIS, and that Washington is not concerned with the case of PKK and the Democratic Union Party and their terrorist acts in Turkey and Syria.”
“Indeed, the US attitude was not a surprise to anyone, including Ankara, which is fully aware that the Kurds will administer Raqqa, which paves the way in the future for creating a new Kurdish entity, similar to northern Iraq. These Kurds will not hand over the administration of Raqqa to the Arabs as they, as well as Washington claim, especially that the deep state in the United States relies on the principle of granting the Kurds entities under the name of federalism."
The most important question, according to the speaker, is "what will Turkey do to face the biggest and most serious challenge to its national security after the PKK and its Syrian arm , the protection units of the Kurdish people, has dominated more than 400 km along the bordering area from the vicinity of Al-Darbasiyya town north from Al-Hassakeh in the east up to Afrin in Aleppo in the west, and will it suffice with the policy of statements adopted since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution and the reluctance to break into the Syrian military field, which costed it a lot, whereas the Iranian, Russians, and Americans, interfered to change the realities on the ground and fulfil their interests at the expense of the Turkish interests in the first place?”
In the midst of the Turkish statements made on Wednesday, in which the Turkish officials hoped that Trump’s administration would change its stance on the armament of the separatist Kurds before the visit of the Turkish president to Washington, press sources indicated that US arms and equipment were already granted to the Kurdish forces, which is supported by the spokesman of the international coalition that Washington may start “very soon” the submission of weapons to People's Protection Units in Syria.