ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—US special forces in Rojava have been ordered to remove YPG patches deemed “inappropriate” by the Pentagon due to “political sensitivities.”Photographs taken by an AFP photographer and seen around the world depicted American special forces along with YPG fighters in a pickup truck near the village of Fatisah, some 48 kilometres north of Raqqa. The special forces are advising the Kurdish-led Syrian alliance, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fighting the Islamic State.At least one of the American soldiers was wearing a YPG (People’s Protection Unit) patch.On Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that US forces wearing patches of local coalition partners is standard practice.“Special operations forces, when they operate in certain areas, do what they can to, if you will, blend in with the community to enhance their own protection, their own security.”Turkey, however, objected strongly, calling it “unacceptable.” Turkey, a member of NATO, considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and, therefore, a terrorist organization.Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had relayed his displeasure to the United States and that he rejected the explanation that wearing the patches provided a level of protection for the soldiers.“In that case, we would recommend they use the patches of Daesh [Islamic State], al-Nusra and al-Qaeda when they go to other parts of Syria and of Boko Haram when they go to Africa,” he said, listing terrorist organizations.“To those who say they don’t consider the YPG to be the same as these terrorist groups, this is our response: this is applying double standards, this is being two-faced.”

In a seemingly reversal of the decision, the US has now ordered the special forces in Rojava to stop wearing the YPG patches.

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“Wearing those YPG patches was unauthorized and inappropriate, and corrective action has been taken,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the US operations against ISIS.“We have communicated as much to our military partners and military allies in the region.”While he acknowledged that, in some cases, US special operations forces do wear the insignia of local partners, in this case it was inappropriate due to “political sensitivities.”There are some 250 US special forces in northern Syria advising and assisting the SDF, which is largely made up of the YPG.