Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces march during a demonstration against possible Turkish military operations. Photo: AP
Explained: why are Syria’s Kurds accusing the US of betrayal?
- Earlier this year, Kurdish-led forces, with backing from a coalition made up of the US and dozens of other countries, took Isis’s last territory in Syria and eliminated its caliphate
- Turkey’s aim is to expel the Kurdish fighters from a 20-mile buffer zone along Syrian-Turkish border and to completely crush the Syrian Kurdish fighters and stop their nascent state
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Syrian conflict
Fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces march during a demonstration against possible Turkish military operations. Photo: AP
US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AP
US to withdraw troops in Syria and step aside for Turkish assault on Kurds, in major policy shift
- Washington had previously sought to stop any Turkish operation against a US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia viewed by Ankara as a ‘terrorist’ offshoot of Kurdish militants in Turkey
- The US worked closely with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia to recapture swathes of territory from Isis jihadists
Topic |
Syrian conflict
US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AP