A US-backed Kurdish militia called on Washington to support it in the face of a Turkish attack in Syria, highlighting the risk that America could be dragged into another front in the war.
Washington has been struggling to maintain a diplomatic balancing act since Turkey launched an offensive on a Kurdish enclave of Afrin in north-west Syria over the weekend. Relations between Ankara and Washington have hit a low, partly because of the US’s backing of Syrian Kurdish fighters that Turkey deems an extension of a terrorist group.
The US arms and trains the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of fighters that have become Washington’s main partner in the ground battle against Isis, but are dominated by the YPG, a Kurdish militia Turkey considers a threat to its security.