U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that the U.S. would continue to finance and provide weapons to Syrian Kurdish fighters after the operation in Raqqa, Syria.
It is noteworthy that such plans completely contradict the Pentagon’s recent promises that arms given to the Syrian Kurds would be taken back after the offensive in Raqqa.
Probably, those promises were aimed solely at lulling Turkey into a false sense of security. It also should be mentioned Ankara does not exclude the possibility of launching another military operation in the north of Syria.
Taking into account Turkey’s principled position towards the Kurdish issue, it is not difficult to guess that this time it is unlikely to stay out.
According to many Syrian experts, Washington’s decision to keep arming Kurds is likely to be a part of the next U.S. plan to escalate the Syrian conflict. Lolita Baldor, a correspondent at Military Times, stresses that the White House intends to use confrontation between Turkey and Kurds. According to Baldor, if the Turkish side decides to conduct a full-scale operation against Kurds, Washington will have another pretext to increase the number of its contingent in Syria.
This will allow the U.S. to strengthen its positions and prevent the successful advancement of the Syrian Army near the territory of Deir ez-Zor, which is rich in oil and natural gas. Such a scenario explains the U.S. intentions to use Kurds, who naively believe that Washington is their true ally.
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