A U.S. Department of State spokesperson said on Friday that it has raised “strong concerns” to Turkey over its state-run news agency’s release of data showing the location of U.S. troops leading military efforts against Islamic State terrorists in Syria.
“We’ve raised our strong concerns with publication of this information with senior Turkish government officials, as we do any time we have concerns about risks to US military or civilian personnel,” the spokesperson told Breitbart News when asked about the Anadolu news agency’s published list of U.S. military bases and outposts.
“The list published by the Anadolu news agency points to a U.S. presence from one end to the other of the Kurdish self-administration region—a distance of more than 200 miles,” the Daily Beast reported, providing details even though U.S. military officials had asked that the information not be disseminated by the press.
Fox News spoke to U.S. military officials about the release of “sensitive military information.”
“The release of sensitive military information exposes Coalition forces to unnecessary risk and has the potential to disrupt ongoing operations to defeat ISIS,” a U.S. military spokesman told Fox News. “ISIS is the greatest threat to regional stability and it is critical that all parties operating in Syria remain focused on what is most important – the annihilation of ISIS.”
“Although the U.S. and Turkey have a military alliance since the Cold War, tensions began to rise following a U.S. decision to back Kurdish fighters in the region,” Fox News reported.
“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,” the U.S. military spokesperson said. “We have conveyed these concerns to the government of Turkey.”
The relationship between the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey has been strained over the U.S. support of Kurdish elements in Syria because the Turkish government considers some Kurdish groups terrorists.
The U.S. military confirmed in June that it has begun shipping weapons to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) to prepare for the battle to liberate Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State.
The YPG – the military wing of the Syrian People’s Democratic Unit (PYD) – is widely considered to be the most effective militia against ISIS on the ground in Syria and cooperates with both the United States and Russia. Turkey objects to supporting them, having designated the YPG a terrorist group.
The YPG is the largest faction in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and is a multi-ethnic anti-Islamic State coalition.
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