FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/NATO/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump approved plans to directly arm Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State in Syria, U.S. officials said Tuesday [5-9-17], paving the way for an offensive against the extremist group’s de facto capital but angering Turkish allies who view the Kurdish fighters as terrorists.
The decision to arm the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia the U.S. considers its most reliable military ally in the country, comes after a long debate within the Trump administration.
Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, considers the YPG to be a terrorist group that threatens its borders, and it has long opposed the U.S. plans.
The decision sets the stage for the YPG and its Arab allies to launch an offensive on Islamic State in Raqqa, one of the extremist group’s last major strongholds in the region.”
-Dion Nissenbaum, Gordon Lubold, and Julian E. Barnes, “Trump Set to Arm Kurds in ISIS Fight, Angering Turkey,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 9, 2017 7:33pm