US-backed Kurdish forces plead with Washington to stop Turkish attack on Afrin

US-backed Kurdish forces on Monday pleaded with Washington to halt a Turkish offensive against them as it prepared to send reinforcements to the region.  Turkey’s forces have crossed into northern Syrian to assault the Kurdish-held area of Afrin, raising alarm in Western capitals that Turkish troops are attacking the same fighters who helped defeat the Islamic of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).  Turkey says it is targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it c