A ceasefire between Turkey and the US-backed SDF in northern Syria is holding, the Pentagon tells Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Monday that a truce between Turkey and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces around the northern Syrian city of Manbij was holding.
Washington brokered an initial ceasefire earlier this month after fighting erupted as rebel groups advanced toward Damascus and ousted Bashar al-Assad’s rule. But on December 19, a Turkish defense ministry official said there was no talk of a ceasefire agreement between Ankara and the SDF.
“The ceasefire is being held in that northern part of Syria,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters.
The SDF is the main ally in the American coalition against the Islamic State militants in Syria. It is led by the YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants who have been fighting the Turkish state for 40 years.
Turkey considers the PKK, YPG and SDF to be terrorist groups.
Western allies of the US and Turkey list the PKK as terrorists, but not the YPG and the SDF.
The United States has about 2,000 US troops in Syria working with the SDF to fight Islamic State militants and prevent a resurgence of the group, which seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was later pushed back.
