The U.S. will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria in a move by President Trump that is sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore a significant role in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, the LA Times website reports today.
In a phone call on November 24 with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said he'd "given clear instructions" that the Kurds receive no more weapons.
The White House confirmed the move in a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed the Turks of "pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."
The move is expected to help improve U.S.-Turkey relations that have been strained in recent months. Turkey had opposed the U.S. supplying weapons to Kurdish fighters to use against the IS, because it feared the Kurds would use these weapons against Turkey in their fighting to establish their own independent state in Turkey.
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