The United States pointedly is not supporting a military operation by its NATO ally Turkey to liberate the north Syrian town of al-Bab from Islamic State control.
Turkey is moving on the town without U.S. or coalition air support in part to prevent Kurdish militias from taking the city, and linking two areas of Syria along the Turkish border, now under Kurdish control.
It presents a delicate diplomatic challenge for the U.S., which wants to keep Turkish-backed rebels and Kurdish militias focused on the Islamic State, and not on fighting each other.
“The coalition has not been a part of the Turkish advance toward al-Bab. This is a national decision that they made,” said Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman briefing Pentagon reporters from Iraq.
Turkey views some of the Kurds as terrorists linked to separatist groups responsible for attacks inside Turkey.
Syria is “a very complicated battlefield with a lot of actors, with sometimes competing interests,” Dorrian said.
“Certainly we’re not going to wish that any area of northern Syria remain in Daesh [Islamic State] hands, but we have been working in ongoing dialogue with Turkey and with our partners and with other coalition members to try and make sure that we de-conflict all of our operations because we don’t want there to be problems.”
Turkey has also been demanding that Syrian Kurdish YPG militia withdraw from the Syrian city of Manbij to positions east of the Euphrates River, as they have promised.
Dorrian said the Kurdish YPG fighters and their leaders have largely left.
“They did leave some people in place to train the Manbij Military Council,” Dorrian said. “I can verify for you that the YPG elements have indeed moved out of Manbij.”
Discussions continue between the U.S. and Turkey over what role the NATO ally will play in the liberation of the Islamic State’s self-declared capital of Raqqa.
