US evacuates first military warehouse in Syria

By Mohamad Misto, Levent Tok and Adham Kako</p> <p>HASAKAH, Syria / ANKARA (AA) – Following its surprise decision last week to withdraw its troops from Syria, the first U.S. military warehouse near the Iraqi border was evacuated on Friday.</p> <p>According to a reliable local source, the U.S. forces vacated a warehouse in Malikiye in the northeast al-Hasakah province.</p> <p>Hummer armored vehicles and trucks from the 400-square-meter (4,306 square foot) warehouse — around which some 50 U.S. troops were based — were sent to Iraq.</p> <p>The U.S. troops based around the warehouse also left for Iraq.</p> <p>The warehouses have served as hubs for the distribution of U.S. materiel to the terrorist group YPG/PKK in northern Syria through Iraq.</p> <p>Turkey has long objected to U.S. support for the YPG/PKK, arguing that supporting one terrorist group (the YPG/PKK) to fight another (Daesh) terrorist organization makes no sense.</p> <p>Washington's military presence in Syria has included some 18 military bases.</p> <p>President Donald Trump last week made a surprise announcement that the U.S. would withdraw its troops from Syria. His decision followed a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which the two leaders agreed on the need for more effective coordination over the civil war-torn country.</p> <p>In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.</p> <p>