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Ignoring Turkey, U.S. Backs Kurds in Drive Against ISIS in Syria
(Washington Post) Liz Sly and Karen DeYoung - U.S. commandos are accompanying the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they push toward Manbij in Aleppo province, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, Col. Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said Wednesday. Capturing Manbij would sever a vital supply route, cut off militant fighters and further squeeze the Islamic State in the Syrian city of Raqqa, Garver said. However, Turkey this week reiterated its opposition to using the SDF, which is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, which has ties to the militant Turkish Kurdish PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and Turkey. Turkey fears that Kurdish advances will encourage Kurdish separatist sentiments inside Turkey.