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US Secretary of State nominee calls Syrian Kurds ‘greatest allies’ in fight against terrorism
http://aranews.net/2017/01/us-secre...s-greatest-allies-in-fight-against-terrorism/
Former Exxon-Mobil CEO and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the Kurds are America’s great allies in Syria. Nevertheless, he also said they should reengage with Turkey despite of Turkish efforts to undermine the Syrian Kurds.
The US Secretary of State nominee called ISIS the most immediate threat and that the US should work with the Syrian Kurds.
“It means projecting the strength of our U.S. military might, but hopefully not having to use it,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “But in the case of the most immediate threat of ISIS – it involved can we construct a renewed coalition that using the forces that are already there, including the Syrian Kurds, which have been our great allies,” he said.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on 6 November launched an operation to isolate the ISIS de facto capital Raqqa.
“That we recommit to the Syrian Kurds that we intend to continue to support with the capability to continue the advance on Raqqa and then build coalition forces that can contain ISIS if attempts to move into other and actually undermine ISIS ideology and its legitimacy and how to do that and improve U.S.-led coordination,” the nominee said.
“The defeat of ISIS globally is extremely challenging because it does not represent a country,” he concluded.
Nevertheless, Turkey is heavily opposed to any support for the SDF forces, seeing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the SDF as a cover for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey-backed rebels and the Turkish army have bombed and attacked YPG and SDF forces in northern Syria during their campaign to take the city of al-Bab, which aims to prevent the Kurds from connecting the cantons from Kobani and Efrin and create a contiguous Kurdish-controlled territory on the Turkish border.
The SDF released a statement on Tuesday, which was retweeted by the US Central Command on Thursday, saying they do not have links to the PKK. “SDF confirms that it has no affiliation or ties to PKK,” CENTCOM said.
Republican senator Rob Portman also agreed during the hearing with the US secretary nominee calling the Syrian Kurds the ally of the US in Syria.
The US Secretary of Defence nominee General James Mattis did not mention the Kurds during his confirmation hearing, but said the US-led coalition should review its strategy on Raqqa. “I believe that strategy needs to be reviewed and perhaps energized on a more aggressive timeline,” he said.
Ernie Audino, a retired Brigadier General in the United States Army, told ARA News that the new Trump administration will most likely recognize Kurdish effectiveness in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
http://aranews.net/2017/01/us-secre...s-greatest-allies-in-fight-against-terrorism/
Former Exxon-Mobil CEO and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the Kurds are America’s great allies in Syria. Nevertheless, he also said they should reengage with Turkey despite of Turkish efforts to undermine the Syrian Kurds.
The US Secretary of State nominee called ISIS the most immediate threat and that the US should work with the Syrian Kurds.
“It means projecting the strength of our U.S. military might, but hopefully not having to use it,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “But in the case of the most immediate threat of ISIS – it involved can we construct a renewed coalition that using the forces that are already there, including the Syrian Kurds, which have been our great allies,” he said.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on 6 November launched an operation to isolate the ISIS de facto capital Raqqa.
“That we recommit to the Syrian Kurds that we intend to continue to support with the capability to continue the advance on Raqqa and then build coalition forces that can contain ISIS if attempts to move into other and actually undermine ISIS ideology and its legitimacy and how to do that and improve U.S.-led coordination,” the nominee said.
“The defeat of ISIS globally is extremely challenging because it does not represent a country,” he concluded.
Nevertheless, Turkey is heavily opposed to any support for the SDF forces, seeing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the SDF as a cover for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey-backed rebels and the Turkish army have bombed and attacked YPG and SDF forces in northern Syria during their campaign to take the city of al-Bab, which aims to prevent the Kurds from connecting the cantons from Kobani and Efrin and create a contiguous Kurdish-controlled territory on the Turkish border.
The SDF released a statement on Tuesday, which was retweeted by the US Central Command on Thursday, saying they do not have links to the PKK. “SDF confirms that it has no affiliation or ties to PKK,” CENTCOM said.
Republican senator Rob Portman also agreed during the hearing with the US secretary nominee calling the Syrian Kurds the ally of the US in Syria.
The US Secretary of Defence nominee General James Mattis did not mention the Kurds during his confirmation hearing, but said the US-led coalition should review its strategy on Raqqa. “I believe that strategy needs to be reviewed and perhaps energized on a more aggressive timeline,” he said.
Ernie Audino, a retired Brigadier General in the United States Army, told ARA News that the new Trump administration will most likely recognize Kurdish effectiveness in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
