Syrian Kurdish officials say they will work with the country's central government in Damascus to fend off Turkey's offensive against Kurdish fighters. In a major shift of alliance, Kurdish-led forces are to deploy side by side with government troops along the northern Syrian border. Sunday's announcement came hours after US officials said American troops will leave northern Syria. They're pulling out because of the chaos caused by Turkey's rolling offensive, which began five days ago. Ahead of the Turkish invasion, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. troops to step aside, a decision the Kurdish allies saw as a betrayal. Turkey and allied fighters swept into northern Syria, clashing intensely with the Kurdish fighters. U.S. troops found themselves caught in the middle, and the decision was made Sunday to pull out. The Kurdish-led force had shrugged off Damascus' rule in 2012 at the height of Syria's civil war, when the Syrian government pulled out troops to focus on the fighting elsewhere.
