Kurd forces must pull back: Biden
VP conditions further US support on halt after Manbij
The US has made it clear to Syrian Kurdish forces that they must return to east of the Euphrates River after seizing control of the Syrian town of Manbij to retain US support, American Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.
Biden made the comments during a visit to Turkey, where he arrived Wednesday for meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to ease tensions over the response to the July 15 failed coup attempt against Erdogan’s government.
Ankara has said it expects Syrian Kurdish fighters to withdraw across the river after the Manbij victory by the US-backed Syria Democratic Forces ( SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
Ankara considers the Kurdish YPG in Syria as a hostile force.
Biden also said Turkish officials made clear that rule of law will prevail during an investigation into the attempted coup.
Turkey has detained and arrested tens of thousands since the July putsch, worrying Western allies who fear a crackdown on dissent.
Erdogan has criticized the US for its refusal to extradite Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims is behind the coup.
The US is providing Turkey’s military with air cover, intelligence and advisers in its Syria offensive against the Islamic State group ( IS), a senior US official said Wednesday.
“We want to help the Turks get ISIL off the border” between the two countries, the official told reporters, using an alternative acronym for IS.
The US is “syncing up with them, [ and] our advisers are in the planning cell with them,” the official said. “We’ll have close air support if there’s an operation” in Jarabulus.
US advisers are communicating with the Turkish military about a plan to take the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, a key IS stronghold that is a primary objective of the Turkish offensive, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Washington is also helping ensure that Kurdish fighters further south do not provoke a conflict with Turkish forces by moving north toward Jarabulus, the official said.
The US has made it clear to the Syrian Democratic Forces that “we don’t and won’t support them going north, and they can’t without our air cover,” he said.
“I think we’ve put a lid on the Turks’ biggest concern, [ which] gives us breathing space to make sure the Jarabulus operation is done the right way.”
The Turkish operation named “Euphrates shield” began early Wednesday, with Turkish artillery pounding dozens of IS group targets around Jarabulus, according to the Turkish prime minister’s office.