On April 28, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters that US forces were deployed to monitor the Syrian-Turkish border. He urged both sides to remain focused on the common enemy: the Islamic State. Turkish airstrikes early on the morning of April 25 had escalated the border clashes between the Turkish army and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Professor Emeritus Andrew Terrill of the US Army War College told Al-Monitor, “The Turkish airstrikes into Syria and Iraq are yet another problem for increasingly difficult US-Turkish relations. Many traditional American supporters of Turkey have been put off by the sweeping purge of all major government institutions by President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and by the problems surrounding the referendum on a new constitution. Previous Turkish charges of US support for the coup attempt have also hurt these relations since any reasonable logic would dictate that the United States would have nothing to gain through an extra-constitutional effort to exchange the Erdogan flavor of Islamism for the [Fethullah] Gulen variety. The current bombing raids into Syria and Iraq are at odds with US policy and risk the possibility that the Turkish actions will be viewed as striking at US allies in the war against [IS]. The decision is all the more puzzling since President [Donald] Trump has shown warmth towards Erdogan while making war against [IS], a centerpiece of his foreign policy. If the Turks wanted to discomfort their most important potential friend in Washington, this is an awfully good way to do that.”
