Syrian Kurds Say US Sending More Military Aid Since Trump Took Office

According to Syrian Kurdish forces with the YPG faction, their military aid from the United States has increased in a meaningful way since President Trump took office earlier this month, with signs that they are going to get even more and bigger aid packages in the future.

The spokesman for the faction said that under the Obama Administration, US aid was limited to light weapons and ammunition, and that since Trump took office they’ve been provided with a small number of armored vehicles and personnel carriers.

This may reflect previous reports from officials familiar with the Pentagon’s planning for escalations in Syria, which were said to include proposals for significant increases in arms shipments to the Kurdish forces, aimed at using them more in the fight against ISIS.

The Kurdish YPG is the main US-backed faction in Syria actually fighting ISIS. Other factions are primarily “moderate” rebel groups, for whom the priority is trying to impose regime change. The YPG is nominally part of a “Syrian Democratic Forces” umbrella, though the handful of tiny factions also members of this umbrella group have mostly left, complaining the YPG operates it unilaterally.