US told Turkey arms drop to Syrian Kurds 'momentary' response to crisis: Kerry

WASHINGTON - Reuters

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The United States told Turkey that a U.S. military air-drop of arms to Syrian Kurds battling Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) near the Syrian town of Kobane was a response to a crisis situation and did not represent a change in U.S. policy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Oct. 20."We talked with Turkish authorities - I did, the president did, to make it very very clear that this is not a shift in policy by the United States. It is crisis moment, an emergency," Kerry told reporters on a visit to Indonesia, adding that it was a "momentary effort."The Turkish government, which views Syrian Kurds with deep suspicion because of their ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has turned down requests for it to open a land corridor so Kobane could be resupplied from other Kurdish areas of northern Syria.The U.S. Central Command said it had delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the Syrian rebels, who for weeks have sought to stave off an onslaught by ISIL fighters that have overrun swathes of Syria and Iraq this year.