Last week’s US announcement of the supplies of “heavy weaponry” to the Kurdish YPG in Syria was a big deal for the regional balance of power, but somewhat shrouded in mystery by the Pentagon’s refusal to say exactly what was being sent.
Syrian Kurdish social media exacerbated that speculation, “recycling” images of US armored vehicles, including MRAPs and M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, on their accounts intended to represent the vehicles being delivered to them by the Americans.
In reality, no Abrams nor any MRAPs are being sent to the YPG at all, according to those familiar with the situation, and the only vehicles expected to be sent to the Kurds are some M1117 Guardian armored vehicles, and what was described as “up-armored Fords,” with most of the aid still amounting to small arms and ammunition.
Kurdish officials appear to believe that claiming they are getting large tanks and other major vehicles will “boost morale,” even if the tanks are never actually seen on the battlefield, not existing and all. It is also believed this is an effort to further needle Turkey, which is already outraged by the shipments.
All of this could be conveniently resolved, of course, by the Pentagon just confirming what they sent, but officials insist they don’t want ISIS to know the YPG’s full capabilities, which boils down to the US being willingly complicit in the lie.
The Kurds are fighting ISIL. Why they shouldnt get Tanks and Heavy weapons.? The USA delivers Tanks to Islamist Turkey and Saudi Arabia, these States are supporting ISIL and Al Kaida
This is reminiscent of Saddam pretending he had more of a nuke program than he did. It isn’t just for morale. It is a power play. It is pretending to power and great power support that is not real, to get by bluff more than reality would deliver.
Not surprising. The US usually gives the Kurds just enough firepower to be a thorn in someones side (Saddam, Iran, ISIS .etc) without making them capable of self-determination. That’s why we’re pushing them into Raqqa. We want Rojava just strong enough to remain a subservient pawn. I had hoped that Trump was too stupid to get this and just sent the YPG a sh*t-ton of heavy hardware with few tangible strings attached but that hope was always a bit foolish. As an anarchist I want Rojava to succeed but as a cynical anti-imperialist I realize this will never be allowed to happen as long as Uncle Sam remains in the picture. That’s why the Kurds should turn back to Russia. They’re just strong enough to protect them but not strong enough to f**k with their sovereignty.
So, this whole article is based on a website called “military times”? Because the US military is so very honorable and always tells the truth?
Talk about people I would never, ever believe. They lie. They deliberately lie. They call it “psycological warfare” or “controlling the information battlefield” or whatever the current buzzwords are. But, the one thing the US military openly will tell you is that they will lie to you anytime they think its to their advantage to lie to you.