Syrian Kurdish fighters are now armed with high-tech American weapons and equipment, but the Pentagon denies supplying it to them, Military Times reports.
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Syrian Kurds have been armed with high-tech US weaponry that the Pentagon denies supplying
The problem is that this will likely enrage Turkey, which considers the YPG a terrorist group.
Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) carry their weapons at a military training camp in Ras al-Ain February 13, 2015.
According to the Times, some Kurds are now outfitted with M4 rifles, infrared targeting lasers, night-vision goggles, advanced optics, combat helmets, body armor and first-aid kits, digital camouflage uniforms, cold-weather clothing and chest rigs that hold ammunition.
The YPG have been closing in on the ISIS capital of Raqqa for months, and are trying to set up their own government in large parts of North Syria in which it already controls.
The problem is that Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group, an extension of the Kurdish PKK that has been fighting an insurgency and trying to establish its own state in Turkey for decades.
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Turkish
The Pentagon admits supplying some of the Syrian Democratic Forces — a mixture of Arab and Kurdish fighters allied with the US in defeating ISIS — with AK-47s and other Russian weapons, but denied giving anything specifically to the YPG.
US officials gave only "
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