The US military has a longstanding relationship with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and those forces are not related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder on Thursday.
Ryder confirmed that a convoy, including US personnel, had been fired upon while in transit within the Iraqi Kurdistan region in the area near Sulaymaniyah on 7 April.
Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the SDF, also survived the attack, which according to Kurdish groups was caused by a Turkish drone attack targeting an area near Sulaymaniyah airport.
“It struck more than 100 meters from the convoy and CENTCOM is currently investigating the incident,” Ryder said.
When asked what the mission of the US personnel was, Ryder said that the United States had been supporting Iraqi forces as part of efforts to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).
“As you know, we have forces in Iraq. They’re not conducting combat operations. They’re advising and assisting the Iraqis. And then we have forces in Syria that are supporting the SDF,” he said.
Washington’s close cooperation with the SDF has soured its relations with Ankara, which sees the Kurdish group as an extension of the PKK and as a national security threat.
The explosion near Sulaymaniyah airport came a few days after Ankara closed its airspace to flights to and from Sulaymaniyah, citing increased PKK activity and “infiltration” into the airport.
“We have partnered with the SDF since 2014 as part of the defeat ISIS mission. We have a longstanding relationship with them. They are not the PKK,” Ryder said, when asked about the SDF’s alleged ties to the PKK.
