YPG members who leave IS fight for Afrin will lose US support: Pentagon

“If they [U.S.-backed forces under the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF] carry out military operations of any kind that are not specifically focused on IS, they will not have coalition support,” said Pentagon spokesperson Adrian Rankine-Galloway.

“Let’s say for example, a unit of the YPG says, ‘Hey, we’ll no longer fight IS and we are going to support our brothers in Afrin,’ then they are on their own. They are not our partners anymore,” said the spokesperson.

The U.S.’s relationship with its partner forces in Syria is not in the form of “command and control,” Rankine-Galloway said, adding that he could not say anything on such a mobilization.

“We provide training, advice and assistance to the forces that are carrying out military operations against [Daesh, the Arabic acronym for IS]. For example, we do not issue orders to our partnered forces [SDF] on the ground. That is not our relationship with them,” he said.

As for equipment the U.S. distributed to the group, Rankine-Galloway said the supplies were used against IS.

“If we observe scenarios in which that equipment is used for other purposes, we are going to take appropriate action that could include cutting off military assistance to them,” the spokesperson said.

Reporter’s code: 50101