Photos hint US forces may be working with female Kurdish fighters (Update: Confirmed, soldiers ordered to cease wearing patches)

[Free Vulcan]

U.S. Special Forces in Syria may be working with female Kurdish fighters in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, if recent photos are any indication.

Recently published photos of U.S. special operations forces in Syria, taken by an Agence France Press photographer, showed one of the U.S. soldiers wearing a "YPJ" patch — which stands for Yekîneyên Parastina Jin, or the Kurdish Women’s Defense Units.

A high-resolution copy of one of the photos clearly showed a U.S. soldier wearing a YPJ patch...

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/281547-us-special-forces-working-with-female-kurdish-fighters

[Oceander]

I guess women can do combat.

[Free Vulcan]

American special operations troops were not authorized to wear the patches of Kurdish forces while advising them in Syria and have been told to remove them, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said Friday, after Turkish leaders protested.

Army Col. Steve Warren said that while U.S. special operations forces have historically and routinely worn the insignia of foreign troops they are working with, this case was not appropriate due largely to political sensitivities.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was "unacceptable" for soldiers of a Turkish ally to use the patches of the YPG, the Kurdish People's Protection Units fighting the Islamic State group. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, an armed insurgent group which it has fought for decades and is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/27/us-orders-troops-in-syria-to-remove-kurdish-insignia.html