Friday, October 16, 2015

I don't have a problem with this.

It appears that the Obama Administration is arming Syrian Kurds and Christians on the sly.

 American and Kurdish officials and Syrian Arab opposition leaders told us this week that ammunition said to have been for the Syrian Arab Coalition, a newly announced group of Sunni Arab brigades in northeastern Syria, had largely ended up arming the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and its associated military forces, known as the People's Protection Units or YPG. That will aid the Kurds in fighting the Islamic State and cementing their control of Kurdish territory.

One senior administration official who works on the issue told us that the White House knew that the coalition was likely to pass on most if not all of the weapons to the Kurds. The official, who called the Syrian Arab Coalition a "ploy" to arm the Kurds, said the White House knew they would receive the shipments because they controlled the area where the weapons were dropped. The U.S. did not ask the Arab coalition for any guarantees the weapons would stay in Arab hands, the official said.

* * *

In addition, the YPG itself has acknowledged that it is participating in a new alliance with Sunni Arab and Syrian Christian groups known as the Democratic Forces of Syria. That group held its first meeting Thursday in the Syrian city of Al Hasakah to discuss how to divide up the new U.S.-provided ammunition between Kurdish, Arab and Christian rebel brigades, a representative of the group said.
Since this appears to be people less likely to use the stuff against us, it seems to be sensible, even clever. Plus, it seems to have ticked off Erdogan, so bonus.
 

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