Pentagon warns Turkey not to launch ‘unilateral’ attack on US-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria
- Turkey says it will begin an operation against the US-allied Kurdish People’s Protection Units within days, calling the group a ‘terrorist offshoot’
Any unilateral military action in northern Syria would be “unacceptable,” the Pentagon warned Wednesday after Turkey said it would soon launch an operation against a US-backed Kurdish militia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would begin the operation “within days” to target the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a “terrorist offshoot” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern,” Pentagon spokesman Commander Sean Robertson said in a statement.
“We would find any such actions unacceptable.”
American forces have worked closely with the YPG under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which has played a key role in the war against Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
American forces are with the SDF east of the Euphrates as well as in the flashpoint city of Manbij, which is west of the river.