Pentagon aware SDF relocating forces amid Turkey's Syria operation

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces repositioned some of its units in northern Syria amid a Turkish military operation in the Afrin region, the Pentagon said on Tuesday in an email to Anadolu Agency.

“We are aware the SDF has repositioned some forces in response to recent tensions, however, this was not under coalition direction,” Defense Department spokesman Major Adrian Rankine Galloway said.

The US has long resisted Turkish criticisms of its support for the SDF. The US contends the group is a “reliable ally” in its fight against Daesh.

Ankara has pointed out to its NATO ally that YPG, which dominates the SDF, is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group.

Last week, the Pentagon warned SDF units that leave the US anti-Daesh operation to go and fight against Turkey in Afrin would lose US support.

Galloway acknowledged Turkey’s security concerns. “We are closely monitoring the situation in northwestern Syria. Turkey clearly has legitimate concerns and they have a need for secure borders.”

Having taken a strategic mountain in Afrin, as part of Turkey's Operation Olive Branch, Turkey's military and Free Syrian Army (FSA) are now pushing further into territory held by the YPG. 

Both Turkish troops and Syrian opposition members have been killed in the cross-border offensive, which is now in its second week. TRT World's Sara Firth brings more from the front line.

Al Qana village

Turkish troops and FSA took control of a village in western Afrin following an operation in the Raju district on Tuesday morning.

According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent at the scene, the village of al Qana in west Afrin has been liberated.

It came after the villages of Khalil and Sati Ushaghi in western Afrin were cleared of YPG earlier on Tuesday.