By Selen Temizer, Levent Tok and Omer Koparan
ANKARA
The U.S. military, which remains based in 18 locations across Syria, has provided the YPG/PKK terrorist group with significant amounts of weapons and ammunition for the past two years.
Although Washington just announced plans to withdraw all its troops from the country, whether or not it plans to take back all this hardware still remains unclear.
During the first three years of the conflict, Washington's Syria policy had been based on then U.S. President Barack Obama's demand that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad step down; economic sanctions imposed on the regime; and frequent warnings against crossing “red lines”.
Obama, for example, had said that the use of chemical weapons by the regime would lead to military intervention. But in August 2013, Obama's words were proven empty when he failed to act after more than 400 civilians were killed in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus.
Rather, the U.S. intervention in Syria first began with airstrikes against the Daesh terrorist group in September 2014. In light of the mounting threat posed by Daesh at the time, the U.S. employed the YPG/PKK terrorists as its primary fighting force on the ground.
With the U.S. air support, the terrorist group seized Ain al-Arab in January and Tal Abyad in June of 2015 after driving Daesh terrorists from the region.
Despite warnings from Ankara, the U.S. army used all means at its disposal to help the YPG/PKK expand its influence. By late 2015, the terrorist group had moved to the west bank of the Euphrates River.
Meanwhile, the U.S. began building an airbase in the Rumeilan district of Syria's northeastern Al-Hasakah province.
By April 2016, military supplies were being sent by air (through the Rumeilan airbase) and by land (from neighboring Iraq). These vehicles and heavy weapons, which included anti-tank munitions, allowed the YPG/PKK terrorists to capture roughly one third of the country’s territory within a two-year period.
U.S. officials repeatedly told their Turkish counterparts that they would reclaim the weapons from the YPG/PKK once the Daesh threat was eliminated.
Given earlier claims by the U.S. that its relationship with the YPG/PKK was merely “tactical”, Turkish officials now wonder if Washington plans to disarm the terror group -- in line with earlier promises -- after its withdrawal decision.
Permanent presence?
Washington's timetable for pulling out of Syria, meanwhile, remains unclear.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon said the withdrawal had already begun, but added that it would continue to work with its "local partners".
After driving Daesh from Syria’s Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour provinces last year, the U.S. has stepped up efforts to build military bases throughout the country.
The U.S. currently operates 15 bases in Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Manbij and Deir ez-Zour, while two more are currently under construction near Deir ez-Zour’s Hajin district (close to the Al-Omar oil facility) and near Al-Hasakah's Qamishli city.
According to some local sources, the building activity strongly suggests that the U.S. plans to maintain a permanent presence in the region.
Notably, in late November, the U.S. army fortified areas of northern Syria along the roughly 100-kilometer border with Turkey's southern Sanliurfa province.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.
Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.
*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara
