In November, the US promised Turkey to stop arming Kurdish militias in
Syria after the Islamic State was routed. Brett McGurk, the US Special
Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State,
explained that after the urban fighting in Raqqa was over “adjustments
in the level of military support” would be made. “We had to give some
equipment – and it’s limited, extremely limited – all of which was very
transparent to our NATO ally, Turkey,” he said during a special briefing
on December 21. In June, the US told Turkey it would take back weapons
supplied to the Kurdish the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in
northern Syria after the defeat of Islamic State.
