Turkey deployed more artillery to its Syrian border early Saturday morning, according to the state-run news agency.
A military convoy of six long vehicles loaded with armored carriers was sent to the border town of Kilis in an effort to strengthen the already existing Turkish presence in the region.
The deployment came shortly after the US Embassy in Ankara said on Thursday that reports in the Turkish media claiming Washington had sent tanks and hundreds of truckloads of weapons to Kurdish militia in Syria are erroneous.
In a statement posted on the embassy website on Thursday, the US Embassy said reports in the Turkish media ignore basic facts about the current situation in Syria.
“The majority of U.S. military assistance, which consists primarily of light weapons and ammunition, has supported Syrian Arab Coalition [SAC] elements of the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces]. The Syrian Arabs who comprise the SAC are fighting to expel Daesh [ISIL] and regain control of their homes.”
Underlining that Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia was given a small percentage of weapons, the US Embassy said weapons given to the YPG are specific to task and are only provided due to their importance to the capture of Raqqa and the destruction of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
“We continue to provide full transparency to the government of Turkey as to what weapons are being delivered to the YPG,” it said.
According to the statement, the vast majority of trucks crossing the Iraqi/Syrian border do not contain military equipment or supplies. They contain foodstuffs, medicine, and other essential supplies needed to ensure the health and safety of internally displaced persons within Syria and to help them meet their basic needs and stabilize them where they are.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday that the US has sent 100 more truckloads of weapons to the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which Turkey claims is affiliated with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Anadolu said 100 trucks carrying hummers, jeeps and lifting cranes entered the Kurdish-controlled Haseke region from the Iraqi border.