Mattis: U.S. arms for Syrian Kurds will continue after Raqqa
MUNICH — U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that America will continue to provide weapons to Syrian Kurdish fighters after the battle to oust Islamic State militants from Raqqa, Syria, is over.
Describing American reassurances to Turkey the U.S. will take back weapons given to the Syrian Kurds after the IS fight, Mattis said it depends on when or where the next mission is. And he also sounded a cautionary tone when asked if all the weapons would be returned. “We’ll do what we can,” he told reporters traveling with him to Germany.
Mattis’ comments marked the first time he has spoken at length publicly about the U.S. pledge to recover the weapons provided to the Kurds.
Turkish officials late last week said Mattis had reassured them by letter that arms given to the Syrian Kurds would be taken back and that the U.S. would provide Turkey with a regular list of arms give to the fighters.
The Trump administration’s decision last month to arm the Kurds roiled Turkey, which views the fighters as an extension of a terror group operating in Turkey.
Mattis said the U.S. has made it clear all along that, “we’re going to equip them for the fight. If they have another fight and they need, you know, the light trucks that they’ve been using … we’ll get them that.”
It depends, he said, on the battle and what weapons the Kurdish fighters need.
Mattis said the U.S. gave the fighters weapons they needed for the urban fighting they are facing in Raqqa. And as the fight goes on, he said the U.S. will collect weapons and repair them, or take certain weapons back and provide others .
“When they don’t need certain things any more, we’ll replace those with something they do need,” said Mattis, who is expected to meet with his Turkish defense counterpart during a NATO meeting later this week in Brussels.
The U.S. is convinced the Kurdish fighters, known as the YPG, are the most effective local force in trying to oust IS militants from their stronghold in Raqqa.