Looming dilemma for the US: Disarm the YPG or not?
The Trump administration has to decide whether it will disarm the Syrian Democratic Forces and the People's Protection Units to assuage Turkey.
![MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-RAQQA Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) run across a street in Raqqa, Syria July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC1F9D39A050](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2019/10/RTS19M60.jpg/RTS19M60.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=X1c4P5wO)
Turkish-American joint air and ground patrols have been in progress for a month in the areas east of the Euphrates, particularly between Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ain. Yet, in reality, even the lexicons of the patrols are not joint in nature. Ankara defines the ground operations as “joint efforts to establish safe zones,” while the United States calls them a “security mechanism.” What is clear is that both armies intend to expand their efforts southward.
There is, however, an issue that will impede cooperation: heavy weaponry supplied by the US Army to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Weaponry such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers have mostly been transferred to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — a sister organization of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization.