U.S. Sent Weapons to Syrian Kurdish Fighters, Turkey Says

The U.S. has supplied its Kurdish allies in Syria with more weapons, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week, accusing the U.S. of dropping two plane loads to the main Kurdish militia in Syria, Reuters reported.

The YPG, the main Kurdish militia in Syria, has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against the so-called Islamic State. Turkey, however, sees the group as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency, which it has been fighting since the 1980s.

“Three days ago America dropped two plane loads of weapons in Kobani for these terror groups,” Erdogan said in New York, where the U.N. General Assembly meeting was being held. “If you think you can finish off Daesh with the YPG and PYD, you cannot, because they are terrorist groups too.”

U.S. vice president Joe Biden had no knowledge of this, Erdogan added, saying that he had discussed the issue with him on Wednesday. The U.S. airdropped weapons to the largely Kurdish town of Kobani, near the Turkish border in 2014. Half of those weapons were taken by ISIS fighters, according to Erdogan.

Last month, Turkey launched a military operation in Syria aimed at driving back both ISIS militants and the YPG from its borders.

Three Civil Defense Centers Hit in Government Bombing on Aleppo

Intensified government air raids on rebel-held Aleppo late Thursday night and Friday targeted Syrian Civil Defense centers, the Associated Press reported.

Known as the White Helmets, the volunteer team of first responders were among targets of intense bombing after the Syrian government announced a new offensive in Aleppo.

At least seven civilians were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Three of the White Helmets centers were also targeted, with one out of service and ambulances and fire engines suffering damages.

Residents told AP that the intensity of the bombing was unprecedented. The return of government airstrikes on rebel-held Aleppo comes after another cessation of hostilities brokered by Russia and the U.S. failed.

No Agreement to Bring Back Syria Cease-fire at UNGA

No deal was made to revive Syria’s failed truce at a high-level international meeting in New York on Thursday, AFP reported.

A U.S. and Russian brokered cessation of hostilities in Syria fell apart a few days after it started, and diplomats have been unable to revive it. Had the cease-fire lasted seven days, Russia and the U.S. would have entered an unprecedented military cooperation and intelligence sharing operation in Syria to target extremists from both the former al-Qaida affiliate group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and the so-called Islamic State.

Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government, while the U.S. supports rebel groups fighting to oust the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad. Following the meeting in New York, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry said his Russian counterpart could not promise that the Syrian government would ground its air force and stop bombing cities.

“The first thing that we have to do is find a way to restore credibility to the process, if that can be done,” Kerry said. “The only way to achieve that is if the ones that have the air power in that part of the conflict simply stop using it.”

U.N. peace envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the meeting was “long, painful and disappointing.”

Recommended Reads:

• The Washington Post: White House Worked Secretly to Delay Syria Sanctions Bill
• The New York Times: Obama Puts Syria at Arm’s Length as Carnage Drags on
• Los Angeles Times: ‘A Massacre Is Inevitable’: Punishing Siege Drags on for Two Shiite Villages in Syria
• NPR: Witness Recounts Deadly Attack on Aid Convoy in Syria
• Carnegie Middle East Center: Why Dance With Russia?