The US has started distributing weapons and equipment to Syrian Kurdish fighters battling to help retake the city of Raqqa from Islamic State, despite the continuing objections from longstanding Nato ally Turkey.

“We have begun to transfer small arms and vehicles to the Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” a Pentagon spokesman said on May 30, AFP reported.

The SDF is an umbrella group dominated by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, which the US wants to take a prominent role in liberating Raqqa, the last remaining stronghold of Islamic State in Syria.

US President Donald Trump this month approved the arming of the YPG, which Washington sees as the most effective and reliable force on the ground in the fight against the jihadist group.

Turkey views the militia as a terrorist organisation because of its links to the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara is concerned that weapons sent to the YPG could end up in the hands of PKK militants and thus might be used in attacks on Turkish security forces.

There was no immediate Ankara reaction to the commencement of the American arms deliveries to the YPG.

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Washington on May 16 for talks with Trump, he strongly conveyed Ankara’s concern over the US decision to arm the group. But his attempts at changing Trump’s mind on the weapons deliveries met with no success.

It remains to be seen how Turkey, which hopes to have better ties with Washington under Trump than it did under his predecessor Barack Obama, will respond.