Russia:

US Continues to Supply Kurds with Arms, Provoking Turkey

TEHRAN (defapress)- Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the developments in Syria, including the issue of arms supplies to Kurds from the US.

News ID: 68691

Date: 15 February 2018 - 20:23

"The Americans have sent the Kurds convoys with weapons through the territory of Iraq, provoking Turkey. Turkey, in turn, has continued its military activity against Kurds in the Afrin area in Northwestern Syria as part of the Operation Olive Branch," Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday, noting that the ongoing battles between Turkish troops and Kurds were fierce, RIA Novosti reported.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is expected to head to Ankara, addressed the issue after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, stressing that the US has "never given heavy arms to the YPG (the People's Protection Units)", a Kurdish militant group that Ankara has deemed to be a terrorist organization.

The Turkish officials have repeatedly claimed that the arming of the Syrian Kurds is one of the major factors that have contributed to the deterioration of Ankara-Washington relations.

Ankara has claimed that the US was making a mistake in supplying weapons to the YPG. Turkish officials said the YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization in the country, and claims that the American weapons they received could be directed against Turkey.

The tensions between the US and Turkey have been on the rise as the Turkish Armed Forces launched the operation against Kurdish forces in Afrin on January 20. The decision to launch the military operation was made in the wake of a US decision to establish a border force that would involve Kurdish militias, including YPG.

Damascus has strongly condemned Ankara's actions, with the Syrian Foreign Ministry calling them a violation of the country's sovereignty.