The U.S. -led worldwide coalition said the Syrian Democratic Forces militia has freed the majority of the Syrian city of Tabqa and its nearby dam from the Islamic State [Daesh]. Both Turkey and the United States have designated the PKK a terrorist organization, though the United States does not consider the Syrian Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), who make up much of the SDF, the same organization as the PKK.
Yildirim on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, has spoken out against a USA decision to arm Syrian Kurdish fighters which Turkey regard as terrorists, saying it can not use one terror organization to try and defeat another terror group. Turkish warplanes attacked Kurdish YPG fighters in northeastern Syria and Iraq's Sinjar region late last month.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and Turkish premier Binali Yildirim discussed a host of security issues Thursday during a bilateral meeting in London, according to the Pentagon.
Turkey believes the USA -backed Syrian Kurds, known as the YPG, are terrorists.
"We've got a certain amount of supply in the country already that was used to equip the Syrian Arab Coalition and some of that may be distributed very quickly", Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the USA -led campaign against ISIS, told Pentagon reporters.
Tabqa and the nearby dam, Syria's largest, were seized a day earlier in an offensive that lasted almost seven weeks, with the backing of airstrikes from the worldwide coalition.
The U.S.is convinced that the Kurdish fighters, known as the YPG, are the most effective local force in trying to oust IS militants from their stronghold in Raqqa, Syria.
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Party spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said Valls had not applied to the party's selection committee and had 24 hours left to do so. Macron's 577 candidates are expected to be announced Thursday and Macron himself will be sworn in on Sunday.
"From our side, we want to keep good neighborly relations with Turkey", Redur Khalil said in a series of messages from Syria.
The White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Tuesday that he was unsure whether US President Donald Trump had informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of his decision.
However, the PYD, as well as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has denied any links to the PKK, despite portraits of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan featuring prominently in their training camps.
On Wednesday, two Turkish soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded during a clash with the outlawed PKK in the eastern province of Agri, Turkey's Dogan news agency reported.
Erdogan said he would take up the issue during a planned meeting with Trump on Tuesday. One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the equipment for the Kurdish elements could include small arms, ammunition, machine guns, armoured vehicles and engineering equipment.
Dorrian had previously said once Tabqah was secured, the Syrian Kurdish-led forces will continue operations to "isolate and seize Raqqa".
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