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The US has provoked Turkey into launching a military operation in the Syrian area of Afrin supplying advanced weapons to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which control the area, the Assistant to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov told the state-run news agency Ria Novosti.
“The Kurds are being boosted with advanced weaponry. The deliveries of modern weapons and encouragement of separatist sentiments among the Kurds have in fact provoked Turkey into carrying out the military operation in Syria’s northern Afrin region,” the official said.
Ankara launched its military operation against the YPG on January 20. On March 1, the Turkish General Staff released a statement saying that 2,222 ‘terrorists’ had been neutralized since the start of Operation Olive Branch in the Afrin area. Ankara argues that the YPG is a terrorist group and is not going to halt its operations in the area.
Washington’s claims that it has supplied with weapons only the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have not influenced Ankara. For Turkey and all other neutral observers, it’s clear that the SDF is dominated by the YPG and includes some Arab units mostly for propaganda purposes.
