Washington’s announcement last week that it would help its ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to set up a force of some 30,000 fighters along the border with Turkey angered Ankara. The SDF primarily consists of the Kurdish militia YPG, which is considered by the Turkish government to be an extension of the militant movement Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting a guerrilla war for decades. Following outcry from Turkey, the US is apparently rowing back on the plan.

“The US continues to train local security forces in Syria. The training is designed to enhance security for displaced persons returning to their devastated communities,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is also essential so that ISIS cannot re-emerge in liberated and ungoverned areas. This is not a new ‘army’ or conventional ‘border guard’ force,” it added in relation to the SDF force, which would be based in the Syrian governorate of Afrin.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also downplayed the story after meeting his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Canada. “That entire situation has been misportrayed, misdescribed. Some people misspoke. We are not creating a border security force at all,” he said on Tuesday. “I think it’s unfortunate that comments made by some left that impression. That is not what we’re doing.”

The statement, however, didn’t seem to placate Ankara, with Cavusoglu saying on Thursday that the US had previously broken promises it made to Turkey regarding the limitation of their support for Kurds.

News of the training program was initially reported by the Defense Post and was later confirmed by US military officials. The reported plan was to redeploy 15,000 members of the SDF to “a new mission in the Border Security Force as their actions against ISIS draw to a close,” and gradually double their number by training additional troops, with a group of 230 recruits already in training.

The plan sparked outrage in Turkey, which called the planned force a “terror army” and said it would not hesitate to attack it. In August 2016, Ankara launched a military operation in Syria, targeting both Kurdish militias and armed groups loyal to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). The Operation Euphrates Shield lasted for over seven months.

The continued US support of Kurdish militias in Syria and Iraq has been a major factor behind the deterioration of relations between Ankara and Washington. The Americans helped the SDF to lay siege on the Syrian city of Raqqa and take control of it from IS last year, supporting the offensive with artillery shelling and airstrikes, as well as propping up the militias with special operation groups and military instructors.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW