YPG

President of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House today, a highly-anticipated meeting between the two leaders of a critical relationship in the Global War on Terror that has been hindered lately by policy decisions from both countries. Certain to be at the top of the list for […]

Defending against potential criticism of a recent Department of Defense decision to openly provide weapons to Kurdish fighters in Syria, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Colonel John Dorrian tweeted yesterday that every weapon will be completely accounted for and pointed at the Islamic State. Every single one of these weapons that will be provided to our […]

Turkey warned the United States on Wednesday that a decision to arm Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State in Syria could end up hurting Washington, and accused its NATO ally of siding with terrorists. The rebuke came a week before President Tayyip Erdogan is due in Washington for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, […]

WASHINGTON — Syrian Kurdish fighters are newly armed with sophisticated American combat equipment as they close in on the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa, Military Times has learned, weaponry the Pentagon says it is barred from providing to those forces. The gear includes U.S.-manufactured night-vision goggles, rifles and advanced optics among other items, the same […]

Kurdish fighters in Northern Syria have revealed plans to extend their gains across northern Syria by establishing a trade route to the Mediterranean Sea, in a move that would almost certainly be opposed from the outset by Turkey, the Guardian reports. U.S. support for the Kurds fighting in Syria against the Islamic State and Assad […]

An aide to Turkish president Recep Erdogan told a radio show that the U.S. soldiers in northern Syria are not safe from Turkish bombs, saying “we won’t be considering the fact that there are armored American vehicles… all of a sudden, by accident, a few rockets can hit them.” His comments come as a politically […]

Turkish planes bombed Kurdish fighters in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeast Syria on Tuesday, killing at least 20 in a widening campaign against groups linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. A Turkish military statement said around 70 militants were killed in the operations inside the two neighboring states. The air strikes in Syria targeted […]

The U.S. Military released a statement on Thursday regarding a coalition air strike that incorrectly targeted friendly forces, resulting in the death of 18 allied soldiers engaged in the fight against ISIS near their capital city of Raqqa. “The Coalition’s deepest condolences go out to the members of the SDF and their families,” CENTCOM said, calling […]

In an abandoned luxury apartment building in Til Kocher, Syria, a group of young women laugh, sing songs, and prepare chai tea for their guests. In the adjacent room is an arsenal of weapons ranging from American M4 rifles to Hungarian-made Dragunovs and locally manufactured Zagrov .50-caliber sniper rifles. The cheerful young women enjoying their […]

Things have apparently changed quite a bit since my first trip to Syria.  When I got there in 2014, the war was still young and Kurdish held Syria (called Rojava) had not yet been saturated by hipster journalists looking for a scoop.  While there, I met the first wave of foreign volunteers.  There were former […]

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said Russia was setting up a military base in northwestern Syria under a bilateral agreement and will help train its fighters – a step that would anger Turkey as it tries to block Kurdish gains near its borders. The Russian defense ministry, however, said it had no plans to open […]

As the Trump administration cedes greater decision-making authority back to battlefield commanders in Syria and Iraq, more U.S. troops are likely to be on the ground in Syria for the coming Raqqa offensive. Citing defense officials familiar with the matter, the Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense James Mattis will be approving the deployment […]