The United States reacted angrily Wednesday after Turkey's state news agency disclosed the locations of American military posts in northern Syria, a move the Pentagon warned could put lives at risk.
The Anadolu Agency (AA) published a report Monday detailing the 10 US military facilities' whereabouts and, in some instances, the number of special operations forces working there.
Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said the release of sensitive military information exposes coalition forces to "unnecessary risk."
"While we cannot independently verify the sources that contributed to this story, we would be very concerned if officials from a NATO ally would purposefully endanger our forces by releasing sensitive information," Rankine-Galloway said.
"We have conveyed these concerns to the government of Turkey," he added, noting that the Pentagon would not comment on whether the locations listed by AA were accurate.
AA said the bases — two airfields and eight military outposts — are being used to support the Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Turkey views the PKK as a terrorist organization and the group has waged an insurgency since 1984 that has killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey.
Despite being NATO allies, the United States and Turkey have a fraught relationship over the current US-led coalition effort to defeat the Islamic State group in northern Syria.
America is relying heavily on YPG and other Kurdish elements to conduct the fighting on the ground. And it has shipped weapons to the Kurds in a move that infuriated Turkey, which worries the guns will end up in the hands of the PKK.
AA said one post in the town of Ayn Issah in northern Raqa governorate housed around 200 US soldiers and 75 French special forces troops.
Rankine-Galloway urged all factions to remain focused on the fight against IS.
IS falling 'very fast': Trump at Pentagon
Washington (AFP) July 20, 2017 –
US President Donald Trump on Thursday declared that the Islamic State group is crumbling, as he met with Pentagon officials to discuss America's military campaigns and progress in eradicating "radical Islamic terrorism."
"We're doing very well against ISIS. ISIS is falling fast, very fast," Trump said as he arrived at the Defense Department.
Trump campaigned heavily on the promise to defeat IS, and during his inaugural address he promised to "unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth."
The jihadists are far from being wiped out, but the Trump White House can boast of some big wins against the extremists, who this month lost their one-time bastion of Mosul in Iraq.
Trump signed an executive order soon after taking office instructing his generals to come up with a revised plan to wipe the jihadists out. Though the strategy has yet to be fully unveiled, parts of it are already in play.
Like the Obama administration's strategy, it relies on air power and the training of local troops to conduct the ground war in Iraq and Syria.
The biggest change Trump has made is giving Pentagon chief Jim Mattis new authorities to set troop levels and to move forces more quickly around the battlefield.
The president also decided to arm Kurdish fighters battling IS in Syria, much to the dismay of ally Turkey, which views the fighters as "terrorists."
– Civilian toll –
A common complaint under Barack Obama was that his White House micromanaged every detail of the campaign, needlessly slowing down battlefield decisions.
Trump has given Mattis and his commanders more power to call in strikes and make decisions, rather than checking everything with Washington or US Central Command in Florida.
Critics say this has led to soaring civilian casualties in Mosul and in Syria's Raqa, where tolls have jumped in recent months.
The Pentagon disputes this, saying it has not changed its rules of engagement and pointing to the reality of warfare in packed urban centers.
Mattis has also launched an "annihilation campaign" against IS in which the jihadists are encircled and killed in place rather than being allowed to flee.
Trump spoke briefly about IS as he arrived at the Pentagon, where he attended a strategy meeting to discuss the fight against the jihadists and America's other military engagements.
The president's brief comments actually came after he was asked whether he would be sending troops to Afghanistan, where the US has been since late 2001.
"We'll see," he said.
Pentagon officials have said Mattis is considering adding around 4,000 troops to augment the current "train and advise" mission for local forces.
IS also has a footprint in Afghanistan, but the Pentagon has said fewer than 1,000 IS fighters remain there, mainly in Nangarhar province.
Also attending Thursday's meeting at the Pentagon were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Mattis and Tillerson have visited Congress this week to brief members of both chambers about the progress in the anti-IS campaign.
Malian soldiers' bodies recovered after 'jihadist' attack
The bodies of eight missing Malian soldiers have been found following a presumed jihadist attack on July 9, official sources told AFP Monday.
The soldiers were ambushed in Mali's northeast and two escaped with their lives, but until now there had been no trace of the missing.
"Eight soldiers missing after clashes with terrorists near Menaka have been found Monday killed by bullets," a s … read more
