SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States takes partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) “seriously”, a defense department’s spokesman said, following Turkey’s threats to attack the group in northern Syria.
Spokesman of the defense department John Kirby said SDF members are the U.S. partners in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria.
“We take that partnership seriously,” Kirby said in a press conference on Monday, in response to a reporter who asked about a possible Turkish operation in Syria.
“We continue to work with them, specifically and solely on the ISIS threat in Syria. And it’s our expectation that, that kind of cooperation and those operations will continue,” he added.
Early this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was preparing to step up operations in Syria.
Ankara accused the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF, of attacking Turkish soldiers in northern Syria.
Bloomberg reported last week that Turkey had deployed hundreds more troops in northern Syrian in preparation for a long-suspended offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.
Two officials told Bloomberg that the planned offensive “is meant to seal more than two thirds of Turkey’s 910-kilometer frontier with Syria”.
The officials said Turkey would aim to capture areas south of the town of Kobane to connect areas under its control west and east of the Euphrates river, according to Bloomberg.
They added that another potential target “is to capture the Menagh air base” near Azaz town from the YPG forces who carry out hit-and-run attacks on Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels who would join it in the planned campaigned.
Bloomberg said the area targeted for the currently planned offensive is largely empty of people.
The troop reinforcement took place after the Turkish parliament voted on Tuesday to allow the deployment of troops in Syria and Iraq for two more years.
Turkish forces have launched three incursions in the last five years, seizing hundreds of kilometers of border strip and pushing around 30 km (20 miles) into northern Syria.
