“We understand Turkiye’s legitimate right to go after a designated terrorist organization which the United States continues – considers a terrorist organization as well,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a press briefing on Monday.
“We have designated the PKK and we respect their [Turkey’s] right to go after that organization,” he added.
Miller also indirectly urged Turkey to refrain from launching an operation against Kurdish forces in Syria. Ankara considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
“We have made clear to all of the parties that we have engaged on this issue, that it is – Syria is in such a fragile state right now that we don’t want to see any party take an action to pursue their own unilateral interests over the broader interests of the Syrian people; that this is a time to increase stability, not to further devolve into sectarian fighting,” Miller said.
“The SDF does incredibly important work to – in the counter-ISIS coalition, a coalition of which Turkiye of course is a member,” he added.
This comes amid reports of Turkey preparing to launch an operation into Rojava.
The SDF on Monday announced that US-led mediation efforts to reach a “permanent truce” with Turkey over Manbij city had fallen off, accusing the latter of evasion to accept key points for reaching an agreement.
“The US-led mediation efforts to declare a permanent truce in the Manbij and Kobani regions were unsuccessful due to Turkey's approach in dealing with the mediation efforts and its evasion to accept key points,” SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami said on X.
The points, according to Shami, included “the transfer of remaining Manbij Military Council fighters and civilians wishing to move to safer areas within north and eastern Syria, as well as the resolution of the issue concerning the transfer of Suleiman Shah's remains to their former location.”
Turkey-backed opposition militia groups launched an offensive against the SDF in the northwestern region of Shahba late last month, controlling it days later. They also took over Manbij city earlier this week which Kurdish fighters had liberated from the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2016.
The development comes amid historic changes in Syria as a coalition of militia groups led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Bashar al-Assad last week.
The Syrian National Army (SNA), a Turkey-backed militia group, has said that their attempt to take Manbij is part of the code-named Operation Dawn of Freedom, which was launched late last month in Tal Rifaat, forcing the SDF-linked fighters to withdraw from the town.
