In recent days, the United States has been mediating between rival Kurdish factions in Iraq, both of them indirectly allied to the United States in the fight against the Islamic State, after clashes erupted around the northwestern town of Snune, freed from the Islamic State more than two years ago. Manbij is the first instance, however, in which U.S. troops have become directly involved in keeping rival factions apart. “All this other stuff is on the back burner.”The defeat of the Islamic State in Manbij last August offered an example of the complications likely to arise. A video posted on social media Wednesday morning showed U.S.-armed Arab fighters allied to the Kurds using an antitank missile to destroy a military vehicle belonging to the Arab fighters allied to Turkey. “If we’re going to go into Syria and fight the Islamic State, we’re going to create a whole lot of wreckage.

Source: Washington Post March 08, 2017 22:34 UTC