Stephen Townsend

Outgoing army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the Iraq-based commander of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has made it clear that Washington will continue to cooperate with the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) inside the Kurdish-Syrian Arab alliance Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its bid to sweep jihadists from the Middle Euph

Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive and is likely to be hiding in the Euphrates Valley, said Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend who commands coalition forces against the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

The Trump administration is ready to press ahead with a U.S.-backed military offensive to evict the Islamic State from its last remaining urban stronghold in the Syrian city of Raqqa over strong objections from Turkey.

President Donald Trump is expected to inform his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of the U.S. plans when he visits the White House later this month.

U.S.-led strikes aimed against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have "unintentionally" killed 352 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) does not expect the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be able to build a Kurdish federal state in Syria's north, according to the coalition forces' commander.

The United States has increased its forces near the northern Syrian town of Manbij as concerns have grown that fighting could erupt among the complex array of militias and Syrian and Turkish troops who are operating on the crowded battlefield near there.

The top U.S. commander in the campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) argued on March 1 that the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), does "not pose a threat to Turkey."

The new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike Pompeo, arrived in Ankara on Feb. 9, following a phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump as part of a bid to launch a fresh beginning in bilateral ties. 

The United States is not concerned with Turkey's efforts to keep terror groups from posing a threat to its border, U.S. commander of the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition said on Dec. 14. 

U.S.-backed rebels said on Nov. 6 they were launching an operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).