Kurdish YPG will be part of coalition effort to isolate Raqqa
Kurdish YPG militia fighters will be included as a part of the force to isolate the ISIS-held Syrian city of Raqqa, the top US military commander in Iraq said on Wednesday.
Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend also said in a news briefing that the US-led coalition fighting ISIS wished to move urgently to isolate Raqqa because of concerns about the group using the city—its main stronghold in Syria—as a base to plan and launch attacks against targets abroad.
The United States regards the YPG as an ally in its fight against ISIS, but Turkey regards it as a terrorist organization because of its links with ethnic Kurdish militants involved in a three-decade insurgency within Turkey.
