Ceasefire between Turkey and US-backed SDF in northern Syria holding, Pentagon says

The Pentagon said on Monday a ceasefire between Turkey and the US-backed Kurdish Syrian forces around the northern Syrian city of Manbij was holding.

Washington brokered an initial ceasefire earlier this month after fighting that broke out as opposition forces advanced on Damascus and overthrew the rule of Bashar al-Assad. But on Dec. 19, a Turkish defense ministry official said there was no talk of a ceasefire deal between Ankara and the SDF.

“The ceasefire is holding in that northern part of Syria,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

The SDF is the main ally in a US coalition against ISIS militants in Syria. It is spearheaded by the YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants that it outlaws and who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Turkey regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups.

The US and Turkey’s Western allies list the PKK as terrorist, but not the YPG and the SDF.

The United States has about 2,000 US troops in Syria that have been working with the SDF to fight ISIS militants and prevent a resurgence of the group, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.

Al-Arabiya, Reuters