WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has said its air campaign in Syria against ISIS has been bolstered by the success of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) on the ground.
The praise for the YPG came during a press conference held by US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday.
“Well, we are doing more in Syria from the air. I think you saw some of that in recent days, and the opportunity to do that effectively is provided in the case of the last few days by the effective action on the ground of Kurdish forces, which gives us the opportunity to support them tactically,” said Carter in response to a question about US strategy in Syria.
To avoid further antagonizing Turkey, a NATO ally in the fight against ISIS, the US has been cautious in publicly admitting to working with Kurdish forces in Syria. Ankara fears Kurds could curve out their own state in northeastern Syria, and has been mulling a military intervention since the YPG’s recent military gains in the border town of Gire Spi.
Carter called Kurdish forces “capable” and hailed them for not just military gains in Syria, but for also establishing order and governance in areas cleared of ISIS.
“And as it's very important, that's the manner in which effective and lasting defeat of ISIL will occur, when there are effective local forces on the ground that we can support and enable so that they can take territory, hold territory and make sure that good governance comes in behind it,” Carter added. The US government prefers the term ISIL over ISIS to describe the extremist group.
Carter said that the US is currently working with the YPG north of Raqqa to conduct “airstrikes that limit ISIL's freedom of movement and ability to counter those capable Kurdish forces.”
During a briefing after meeting with his national security team on ISIS, President Barack Obama tacitly called the Kurds an “effective partner” in Syria without mentioning them directly.
“And over the past year, we’ve seen that when we have an effective partner on the ground, ISIL can be pushed back,” he said.
