Ignoring Turkey, US to arm Kurds in Syria

President Donald Trump has approved a plan to provide Syrian Kurds with heavier weapons so they can participate in the battle to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

U.S. military commanders have long argued for arming the YPG, a Kurdish militia that contains some of the most-experienced fighters among the Syrian force that is battling the Islamic State.

But Turkey has vociferously objected to such a move, insisting that the Kurdish fighters are linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, which both it and the United States regard as a terrorist group.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is scheduled to meet with Trump in Washington this month, and the U.S. decision on arming the Kurds is likely to figure prominently in the discussion. Erdogan is expected to press Trump to give Turkey and the Syrian rebels it backs a bigger supporting role in the assault on Raqqa.

Turkey was informed of Trump’s decision, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Turkish government had no immediate reaction, with officials declining to comment before Erdogan’s office did.

But the move was likely to anger Erdogan, who has been pressing the United States to lessen its support for the Syrian Kurds, which the United States considers its most-reliable partner against the Islamic State but which Turkey views as terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.

While the Kurds are combat-hardened fighters, U.S. officials have said they will need anti-tank missiles, heavy machine guns, mortars and armored vehicles to take on Islamic State fighters in Raqqa, who are well-equipped and have fortified their positions.

It is not clear how the Trump administration plans to avoid a backlash from Turkey. But U.S. military officials have previously suggested that the United States might provide the Kurdish fighters with just enough weapons to take Raqqa while restricting the supply of arms and ammunition they would receive after that operation ends.

“We would be transparent with them,” Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, said of the Turks during a visit to Syria in February. “We could meter things like ammunition.”

Dana W. White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, announced the decision in a statement Tuesday.

“We are keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner Turkey,” White said. “We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the U.S. is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally.”

In some ways, the announcement formalizes what had already been in practice. The United States has long been working with the YPG, or People’s Protection Units, under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Pentagon has always emphasized that the SDF includes Arab fighters — and has played down the notion that the United States is working directly with the YPG — but in reality, the YPG is believed by both its supporters and its critics to be the dominant force in the SDF.