Nuclear security

Dozens of US nuclear weapons in Turkey could be in question as the NATO allies fight a proxy war in Syria

The US and Turkey, both NATO countries and allies for decades, began fighting a proxy war in Syria over the weekend.

Turkish jets pummeled US-backed forces in Sryia's north — all while Turkey holds one of the US's most important bases and dozens of US nukes.

Turkey targeted the YPG, a Kurdish element of the Syrian Democratic Forces, one of the largest and most effective fighting forces that the US trained, equipped, and supported with air strikes during the successful three-year campaign to degrade and destroy ISIS' caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Turkey's motivation to destroy the Kurdish fighters comes from their alleged connection to the PKK, a Kurdish group responsible for terror attacks in Turkey that both Washington and Ankara consider a terror group.

After the US announced, and then walked back, plans to create a 30,000 strong border policing force comprised of the Kurdish and other fighters, Turkey quickly said it would fight against the Kurds.