Battle against Isil 'paused in Syria' as Kurdish fighters battle Turkey

US-backed ground operations against Islamic State remnants in eastern Syria have been put on hold because Kurds who had spearheaded combat against the extremists have shifted to a separate fight with Turkish forces, US officials have said.

The public acknowledgement of what Col Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, called an "operational pause" is the most explicit sign yet that Turkey's intervention in the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin is hindering the US effort to finish off Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria.

For weeks, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other US officials have called Turkey's operation a "distraction" from the anti-Isil campaign. Mattis also has said the US understands that Turkey has an active Kurdish insurgency inside its own borders and that it views Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, to be a terrorist organisation.

The US says the YPG is separate from the Kurdish fighters inside the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, but Turkey disagrees.

 Source : Yahoo