The US military authorities at the Pentagon said President DONALD TRUMP has approved supplying weapons to Kurdish forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
A Pentagon spokesman said the aim is for the Kurdish fighters to drive the Islamic State group from its stronghold in Raqqa.
The move is not expected to be supported by Turkey, which views the Kurdish rebels as terrorists and wants to stop them taking more territory in Syria.
The US Defence Secretary JIM MATTIS has discussed the issue with his Turkish counterpart, FIKRI ISIK, but there are no details of the conversation.
