MESOP NEWS : TRUMPS “ADJUSTEMENTS” CONCERNING THE PKK/PYD KURDS – CUTTING THE WEAPONS SUPPLY LINE SLOWLY / STRANGE CEASEFIRE BETWEEN SDF/PKK & ISLAMIC STATE

Pentagon: We Are Reviewing “Adjustments” in Weapons to Kurdish Militia YPG

28 Nov 2017 – The Pentagon said on Monday that it is reviewing “adjustments” in weapons to the Kurdish militia YPG, the leading element in the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces.

Following the SDF’s completion of the takeover of major Islamic State areas, including the city of Raqqa and parts of Deir ez-Zor Province — and amid pressure from Russia and Turkey — US agencies have been considering their future position.

But last Friday, Donald Trump overtook the review when — according to the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with whom Trump spoke for more than an hour by phone — he said the US was cutting off all arms to the YPG.

The White House carefully said after that conversation that “consistent with our previous policy, President Trump also informed President Erdoğan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria”.

The US helped create the SDF in autumn 2015 to push back ISIS throughout northern and eastern Syria. Turkey is opposed to the force because it believes the YPG and the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD) are part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday that Trump must honor his pledge, “The ‘We will not give weapons’ remark from a US President for the first time is important, but it will lose value if it is not implemented. It would be deceiving the world.”

Reports are circulating of a ceasefire between the Islamic State and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria, as the two sides try to negotiate a lasting arrangement.  An SDF offensive, as well as a push by pro-Assad forces, has removed ISIS this year from all its major positions in Syria, including in Deir ez-Zor Province. Pro-Assad units are now trying to clear the Islamic State from areas south of the city of Mayadin on the Iraq border. www.mesop.de