WASHINGTON, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Wednesday that Washington thinks the weapons airdrop mission in Syria was necessary to protect the besieged city of Kobani and thus successful, even though part of US’ arms ended up in the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants.
"All military missions incur some risk. But the alternative of doing nothing, of not making sure the fighters pushing back ISIL [IS] on the ground in and around Kobani have the weapons and ammunition they need, and the medical supplies they need, we don’t think is a viable option,” Harf said at the State Department press briefing.
Earlier today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized US’ actions, stressing that now it was clear, who Washington’s support was for.
In response, Marie Harf said the people, fighting IS on the ground, should have the supplies they need.
“They are responding to repeated ISIL attacks upon their city and, you know we’ll let the Turkish government speak for itself, but allowing ISIL to seize more territory along the border with Turkey could endanger more Syrian communities and threaten our shared interest with Turkey in defeating ISIL and strengthening the moderate opposition,” Harf added.
A Youtube video, uploaded on Tuesday, showed IS fighters, examining a bundle the group claimed was dropped by US aircraft. The Pentagon conceded the video could be valid but needed more time to verify.
On Sunday night, several US C-130 aircraft airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters in order to help them fight against IS, which is laying siege to Kobani on the Turkish-Syrian border.
IS, which is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has fought the Syrian government since 2012. It extended attacks to north and west Iraq in June and declared the creation of an Islamic caliphate.
