White House Approves Plan to Arm Syrian Kurds Against ISIS

The White House released a statement Tuesday saying that President Donald Trump has authorized the Dept. of Defense (DOD) to provide arms to Syrian Kurds in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A spokesperson said the Kurdish militia, known as the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), is "the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future" in reference to the ISIS stronghold. The assault on Raqqa, which ISIS considers the capital of its “caliphate,” is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

While it’s not clear when the arms will arrive in Syria and what will get there first, NBC News reported that the deliveries are expected to include breaching equipment for urban combat like bulldozers and engineering materials, in addition to armored vehicles, rifles, ammunition, body armor, radios, and anti-tank weapons. How the equipment is delivered will vary, but could include ground convoys, airdrops, or landings by C-130s at local airfields.

The move won’t be received well by the government of Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region and a member of NATO since 1952. Turkey has been fighting a Kurdish insurgency in its own territory since 1978, and fears that arms given to Kurds in Syria could be turned against them at a later date. It claims that the Syrian Kurdish fighters are aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been declared a terror group by both Turkey and the U.S.

In late 2016 and early 2017, the Obama administration debated arming the Syrian Kurds after previously arming the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga in their fight to retake Mosul and other parts of Iraq from ISIS. No action was taken before President Donald Trump was inaugurated, although a former Obama White House official told Foreign Policy that during the transition process they advised the incoming Trump administration to quickly follow through with the plan.

There may be some fallout from the decision — Turkey’s Incirlik air base has been a hub for carrying out airstrikes against ISIS and bringing needed supplies to the region. Turkey could look to restrict or delay activities carried out from there as a way of pushing the U.S. to reconsider its policy.

For its part, the White House has said it is "keenly aware" of Turkey’s concerns and that the U.S. is “committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally.” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the AP he’s not overly worried about Turkey’s reaction because “[their] interests and ours are not aligned right now” and there will be “a little bit of a rub with Turkey for a period of time.”

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— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Kurdishstruggle via Flickr / Creative Commons)