US soldiers in Syria attend commemoration event for PKK/YPG terrorists

By Mehmet Burak Kocaoglu and Esref Musa

TEL ABYAD, Syria (AA) - US soldiers deployed in Syria attended a commemoration event Thursday for members of the PKK/YPG terrorist group who died last year in two helicopter crashes in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan Regional Government region.

According to posts on social media accounts close to the terrorist organization, the PKK/YPG organized the event in the city of Qamishli in Syria’s Hasakah province for nine members of a so-called counter-terrorism unit (YAT) who died in the crashes last March. They had been trained by the US under the pretext of combating the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

US soldiers and leaders of the PKK/YPG attended the event, including Ferhat Abdi Sahin, code-named Mazloum Abdi, and Salih Muslim as well as several other members of the terror group.

In the footage posted on social media, three US soldiers can be seen laying wreaths for the deceased terrorists.

Two of the soldiers also attended a ceremony together with Abdi on Wednesday for Nowruz, a festival marking the first day of spring and the new year.

During the celebration, the soldiers held the same torch as Abdi and lit the Nowruz holiday fire.

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul