Tensions rise between Turkey, US along Syrian border
ISTANBUL — Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the U.S. moved armoured vehicles to the region and Turkey’s leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there.
The relocation of Turkish troops to an area near the border with Syria comes a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the tense border in Syria. Those patrols followed a Turkish airstrike against bases of Syrian Kurdish militia, Washington’s main ally in combating Islamic State militants in Syria.
More U.S. troops were seen Saturday in armoured vehicles in Syria in Kurdish areas. Kurdish officials describe U.S. troop movement as “buffer” between them and Turkey.
But Turkey views Syria’s Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known as YPG, as a terrorist organization and an extension of the Kurdish militants who have been waging a three-decade-long insurgency against Turkey.