An armored convoy of U.S. troops patrolled the area of Rojava on the Syria-Turkey border on Saturday following airstrikes by Turkey several days ago that reportedly killed at least twenty U.S. backed Kurdish forces. Turkey and the Kurds have since exchanged artillery fire. Photos show the U.S. flagged vehicles receiving a warm welcome from Syrian Kurds.
https://twitter.com/M1Massoud/status/858314590916141058
Syrian journalist Massoud Mohammed posted a series of photos and videos of U.S. troops patrolling the area, including a video of a convoy protecting a funeral service for Kurds killed in the Turkish airstrikes.
https://twitter.com/M1Massoud/status/858331640778686464
More photos:
https://twitter.com/M1Massoud/status/858239563021549568
https://twitter.com/M1Massoud/status/858259674931638272
https://twitter.com/M1Massoud/status/858265216802590720
Videos and photos posted by Mutlu Civiroglu:
Video- Syrian Kurds greet American troops deployed at the border after Turkish strikes @realDonaldTrump @POTUS pic.twitter.com/YjUUGXq6D1
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) April 28, 2017
US troops at the funeral ceremony in Derik held for the YPG fighters killed in Turkish airstrikes pic.twitter.com/eiHRb7jXW3
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) April 29, 2017
American forces visiting different cities in Rojava while Kurds salute them @CENTCOM pic.twitter.com/HZY9qUfh1Z
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) April 29, 2017
Amazing footage of Syrian Kurds welcoming US troops today @VOAKurdish @ZANA_VOANEWS pic.twitter.com/UgVRmXCFcS
— Mutlu Civiroglu (@mutludc) April 29, 2017
Reuters reported on the deployment:
DARBASIYA, Syria (Reuters) – A commander of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Friday U.S. forces would begin monitoring the situation along the Syria-Turkey frontier after cross-border fire between the Turkish military and YPG this week.
…Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes against Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria and Iraq’s Sinjar region on Tuesday in an unprecedented bombardment of groups linked to the PKK, which is fighting an insurgency against Ankara in Turkey’s southeast.
Those attacks killed nearly 30 YPG fighters and officials, a monitoring group reported.
Since Tuesday the YPG and Turkish forces have traded artillery fire along the Syria-Turkey border.
…Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said on Friday U.S. troops were deployed along the border.
“We continue to urge all the parties involved to focus on the common enemy which is ISIS (Islamic State),” he told reporters.
Hundreds of U.S. troops are deployed on the ground in Syria to support the Raqqa offensive.”
Military.com reported on the initial U.S. military response to the Turkish airstrikes:
In a rare rebuke to a NATO ally, the U.S. military charged that Turkish airstrikes against a valued U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria came with little warning and could have endangered American advisers.
“We were troubled by that,” Air Force Col. John Dorrian said of Turkey’s failure to give adequate warning of airstrikes Tuesday in the Hasaka area. The strikes reportedly killed at least 20 fighters of the YPG, or People’s Protection Units, which have proven to be the most effective anti-ISIS force in northeastern Syria.
“We had forces within six miles of the strikes,” said Dorrian, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. “It was an unsafe way to conduct operations.”
Turkey views the YPG as an offshoot and ally of the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been branded a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
However, Dorrian said in a video conference from Baghdad that the YPG forces continue to “make tremendous sacrifices” in the fight against ISIS and in preparation for the assault on Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The U.S. has backed the YPG with advice and training as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces and “we will continue that support.”…
Complete Military.com article at this link.
Background via Wikipedia on Rojava.
Rojava (/ˌroʊʒəˈvɑː/ roh-zhə-vah; Kurdish: [roʒɑˈvɑ] “the West”) is a de facto autonomous region originating in and consisting of three self-governing cantons in northern Syria,[6] namely Afrin Canton, Jazira Canton and Kobanî Canton, as well as adjacent areas of northern Syria like Shahba region.[7] The region gained its de facto autonomy as part of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian Civil War, establishing and gradually expanding a secular polity[8][9] based on the Democratic Confederalism principles of democratic socialism, gender equality, and sustainability.[3][10][6][11]
Also known as Syrian Kurdistan[12] or Western Kurdistan (Kurdish: Rojavayê Kurdistanê),[13] Rojava is regarded by Kurdish nationalists as one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan).[14] However, Rojava is polyethnic and home to sizable ethnic Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and Turkmen populations, with smaller communities of ethnic Armenians, Circassians and Chechens.[15][16] This diversity is mirrored in its constitution, society and politics.[17]
On 17 March 2016, its de facto administration self-declared the establishment of a federal system of government as the Federation of Northern Syria–Rojava (Kurdish: Federasyona Bakurê Sûriyê – Rojava, Arabic: فدرالية شمال سوريا – روجآڤا, commonly abbreviated as NSR).[18][19] While entertaining some foreign relations, the NSR is not officially recognized as autonomous by the government of Syria[20][21] or any international state or organization. The protagonists of the NSR consider its constitution a model for a federalized Syria as a whole.[22] The updated December 2016 constitution of the polity uses the name Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria (Kurdish: Sîstema Federaliya Demokratîka Bakûrê Sûriyê, Arabic: النظام الاتحادي الديمقراطي لشمال سوريا).[23][24][25]”
