YPG rename captured Syrian airbase after PKK leader Ocalan
The Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) have renamed the former Syrian military Menagh airbase they seized from opposition fighters earlier this month after the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
According to the British newspaper The Times the specific name the group gave to the airbase was "Serok Apo", which means "Leader Apo" in reference to the leader of the group.
Menagh was seized by the YPG in an advance eastward of Afrin Canton into the Azaz region. Turkey is against the YPG expanding from its cantons into that part of northwestern Syria.
The U.S. also discouraged the YPG from making such advances on Tuesday. The U.S. state Department spokesman Mark Toner said that, 'The YPG needs to stop its own actions on the ground that we believe raises tensions. But we would also urge Turkey to, as I said, cease firing artillery across the border. We just think that escalates tensions in the region."
Turkey has long condemned the YPG as little more than a Syrian offshoot of the PKK and has been deeply frustrated by Washington's support to that group in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS). It launched artillery bombardments against the YPG last weekend to try and halt their advances.
According to the British newspaper The Times the specific name the group gave to the airbase was "Serok Apo", which means "Leader Apo" in reference to the leader of the group.
Menagh was seized by the YPG in an advance eastward of Afrin Canton into the Azaz region. Turkey is against the YPG expanding from its cantons into that part of northwestern Syria.
The U.S. also discouraged the YPG from making such advances on Tuesday. The U.S. state Department spokesman Mark Toner said that, 'The YPG needs to stop its own actions on the ground that we believe raises tensions. But we would also urge Turkey to, as I said, cease firing artillery across the border. We just think that escalates tensions in the region."
Turkey has long condemned the YPG as little more than a Syrian offshoot of the PKK and has been deeply frustrated by Washington's support to that group in its fight against Islamic State (ISIS). It launched artillery bombardments against the YPG last weekend to try and halt their advances.