US denies pact with Turkey against YPG in ISIL-free zone

WASHINGTON - Anadolu Agency

Militant from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) sit in the back of a vehicle in the al-Zohour nieighbourhood of northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on August 2, 2015, a week after Syrian troops and Kurdish militants ousted ISIL from Hasakeh. AFP Photo

The United States denied reports on Aug. 4 that Washington and Ankara had agreed to keep Kurdish fighters out of a proposed zone in northern Syria that will be freed of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Details for the effort to clear ISIL from the border remain to be worked out and no parameters have been set,” according to a senior administration official who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity. 

“We are working with Turkish partners on the next steps and are not going to give out further operational specifics,” the official said.

“We’ve been clear that the coalition will continue to support the efforts of anti-ISIL forces to include Syrian Kurdish, Arab, and Turkoman fighters to drive ISIL out of northern Syria border regions,” the official added.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. and Turkey agreed to keep the Kurdish People’s Protections Units (YPG) out of a swath of north Syria that ISIL has managed to keep control of, if the group is successfully removed.