Tensions over IS resurface in Turkish-US ties
Ankara opposes US-supplied weapons going to Syrian Kurds, but has no power to prevent it and has failed to convince Washington that Kobani is of no strategic value.
![Turkish Kurds watch as smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani, from a hill near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc Turkish Kurds watch as smoke rises over the Syrian town of Kobani, from a hill near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province October 24, 2014. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (TURKEY - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4BHAZ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/10/RTR4BHAZ.jpg/RTR4BHAZ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=nwk1Ih5n)
Ankara and Washington insist officially that there are no differences between them concerning the situation in Syria, in particular over the fight against the Islamic State (IS). All signs, however, indicate otherwise.
Tensions between the two have resurfaced over the question of US arms supplies to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria to help it fight IS. Washington has air-dropped arms to the PYD despite disapproving grumblings from Ankara, which has been trying, to no apparent avail, to prevent this from happening because it considers the PYD to be a terrorist organization.