Pentagon: YPG, Russian interests not aligned

By Kasim Ileri

WASHINGTON

The U.S. has concerns about a budding YPG and Russian alliance in Syria, a Pentagon official said Friday.

“I don't believe that YPG interests align with Russian interests. We know that they interact, but we believe that at the end of the day they won't be comfortable getting in bed with the Russians,” Col. Steve Warren said on the social media platform Reddit where he answered users’ questions.

Despite Turkey’s objections, the U.S. has supported the YPG, the military wing of the PYD which in Syria that is an offshoot of the PKK terror group fighting Turkey.

Washington’s interest in the group stems from its fight against Daesh in northern Syria but the Obama administration is aware that the groups are not keen to move further south to Raqqa -- Daesh’s self declared capital and, Deir ez-Zour, a key southeastern Syrian province held by Daesh.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged that the predominantly Kurdish militant group is not the right choice to free the mostly Arab populated cities.

Noting that he would prefer to see Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberating Deir ez-Zour, Warren also acknowledged the challenge “to get the appropriate mix of forces into play” to retake and hold the Arab city.

The SDF PYD-led coalition fighters battling Daesh and Nusra Front in Syria.

He also noted his concerns about a recent YPG offensive on opposition groups, adding that the particular fight has “not affected the support that we are providing them.

“Of course we apply pressure to try to prevent such actions from occurring. The recent display of dead bodies by one group was deplorable,” he said, referring to YPG militants parading through residential areas the corpses of rebel fighters.

Warren admitted that the U.S. has not provided moderate rebel groups in northern Aleppo with similar technology it provided to the SDF.