Turkey Calls for Removal of U.S. Envoy for Fight Against ISIS
The Turkish government has called for the removal of the U.S. presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the so-called Islamic State due to his “support” of Kurdish militants, Reuters reported.
The call followed Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting on Tuesday with U.S. president Donald Trump, at which Erdogan reinforced his displeasure at U.S. plans to arm Syrian Kurds in the YPG militia (the People’s Protection Units) ahead of their assault on ISIS-held Raqqa as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting Turkish forces for decades in southeastern Turkey.
Speaking on Turkish television, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “Brett McGurk, the USA’s special envoy in the fight against Daesh (Islamic State), is definitely and clearly giving support to the PKK and YPG. It would be beneficial if this person is changed.”
The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and Turkey.
U.S.-Backed Syrian Democratic Forces Close in on Raqqa
A U.S.-supported alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters is “tightening their noose” on ISIS in Syria’s Raqqa province, a spokesman for a U.S.-led coalition told Reuters on May 17.
The SDF has taken control of more than 130 square miles (350 square km) during the past seven days in an advance designed to isolate ISIS’ operations base in Raqqa city.
Col. Ryan Dillon said, “In the last week the SDF have tightened their noose around ISIS in the northern and eastern and western part of Raqqa … They have taken almost 350 square km of ground from ISIS, so they continue to just encroach and … tighten, and tighten and tighten that isolation ring, quite frankly largely uncontested.”
At their closest, the SDF – backed by coalition air raids – have advanced 2.5 miles (4km) from Raqqa, Dillon said, adding that 3,000-4,000 ISIS fighters are based in the city.
U.S. Intelligence Reports ISIS Setting up Chemical Weapon Cell
U.S. intelligence indicates that ISIS is gathering its chemical warfare experts from Syria and Iraq to form a new “chemical weapons cell,” CNN reported.
The unit is being established in a region controlled by ISIS in the Euphrates River Valley, between al-Qaim, close to the Iraqi border, and the Syrian town of Mayadin.
“Thousands” of ISIS troops are thought be in the region, a U.S. defense official told CNN, and – given the military pressure on the group’s base in Raqqa – this river valley area is now the de facto ISIS capital. “We know they have been moving a lot of their leadership out of Raqqa and we suspect much of their technical expertise and planning as well,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway said.
However, coalition officials state that capturing Raqqa remains a key objective.