Erdogan tests Trump with attack on Syrian Kurds
US-Turkey relations sink further following airstrikes; Russia’s expanding military presence in Syria.
Will US rethink plans for Raqqa?
In May 2016, we asked how long the United States and Turkey could keep up appearances of alliance and partnership in Syria, given differences over US backing for the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Following Turkey’s airstrikes April 25 against the YPG in northern Syria and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Sinjar region of Iraq, reality may be outpacing appearances.
A Pentagon spokesman said that the Combined Air Operations Center received less than one-hour notice of the strikes, “certainly not coordination as you would expect from a partner and an ally in the fight against [the Islamic State].” The Turkish strikes killed 20 YPG fighters in Syria and, inadvertently, five or six Iraqi peshmerga fighters in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Iraqi peshmerga are linked to the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, which has close ties to Ankara.
