Use of Kurdish militia against Daesh ‘naive’

Turkish president has reiterated the country’s opposition to the use of Syrian Kurdish fighters in the fight against Daesh.
Turkey considers US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, and its political wing as terror organizations.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday “no one in the world will buy this naïve attitude (attacking) Daesh with another terror organization.” 
Erdogan did not make a direct reference to the ongoing operation to free the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa, although Turkish officials have in the past spoken out against the use of Syrian Kurdish fighters in the offensive.
Erdogan called the Syrian Kurdish groups “a side branch” of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish rebel group which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
The Kurdish-led Syrian fighters clashed on Monday with Daesh militants north of Raqqa as they pushed ahead in their offensive aiming to retake the city that has been the de facto capital of the extremist group since 2014.
Members of a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) have been on the offensive in the area since late Saturday, aiming to initially isolate and encircle Raqqa. The US, France and Britain said they would provide air support for the offensive, which was announced at a news conference on Sunday in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa.
But the announcement lacked details on how the SDF, dominated by Kurds, plans to oust the militants from the city.
The battle of Raqqa could be long and costly; Daesh fighters are expected to fight until the end since its loss could be an existential threat. It would mean the extremist group would have no full control of any large cities in Syria, just as Iraqi forces are pushing forward against Daesh-held Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city.
Earlier this year, it took SDF fighters more than two months to capture the Syrian town of Manbij, which is far smaller than Raqqa.
Raqqa has been under Daesh control since early 2014; it is home to some of the group’s top leaders and is seen as the key to defeating the group militarily. 
It has been the extremists’ de facto capital since they declared a caliphate in areas they control in Iraq and Syria in June 2014.
The US commander of coalition forces fighting the Daesh group said the operation to take Raqqa aims at eventually cutting off the extremists from Mosul, where US-backed Iraqi forces have entered the city’s eastern outskirts amid fierce resistance.

Source: Arab News