BEIRUT — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took his proposal for a Turkish-backed assault against the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa to the Sunni Arab states of the Persian Gulf on Monday, telling an audience in Bahrain that he wants to create a “safe zone” in that part of Syria.
Speaking on the first stop of a three-nation Gulf tour, Erdogan said the safe zone would encompass 3,475 miles and include the Syrian town of Manbij, which was captured from the Islamic State in August by Syrian Kurds working closely with the U.S. military.
The Turkish offer to participate in the Raqqa battle is not new, but it has been revived amid reports that President Trump has ordered an overhaul of the Obama administration’s plan to arm the Syrian Kurds to assault Raqqa. Turkey vehemently opposes the Pentagon’s close military relationship with the Syrian Kurds, which became a major source of tension between Turkey and Washington during President Barack Obama’s last year in office. The Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), has ties to the Turkish Kurdish PKK organization, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Washington and Ankara and is waging an insurgency in Turkey to secure autonomy for Kurds.
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