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Kurdish Forces Announce IS Defeat in Eastern Syria

by VOA News

   Kurdish forces in Syria announced Sunday that they had regained control
   of a key area east of the Euphrates river from Islamic State militants.

   The People's Protection Units (YPG) thanked Russian forces as well as
   the United States-led coalition for logistical and air support in
   retaking Deir al-Zour's eastern countryside.

   Speaking at a news conference Sunday, YPG's spokesperson Noureddine
   Mahmoud said that he hoped for more coordination with the two
   international powers.

   A day earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis suggested the United
   States will move away from arming Syrian Kurdish fighters, as part of a
   wider shift from a military-led to a diplomatic-led approach in Syria.

   Last week, Turkey, which considers the YPG a terrorist organization,
   claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would stop
   arming Kurdish fighters in Syria.

   The YPG, the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, bore
   the brunt of the fighting to clear IS forces from their self-proclaimed
   capital in Raqqa, Syria.