Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren today announced that the US intends to carry out more weapons airdrops in the Hasakeh Province of northeastern Syria, claiming the “Democratic Forces” faction has achieved massive gains in the weeks since they dropped their last batch of arms there.

The Democratic Forces have been hyped by the US as a major new force against ISIS, though most analysts agree the group exists “in name only” and simply refers to the Kurdish YPG and a few mostly irrelevant allies. Interestingly, the US claim of success is the first claim that any major territory has changed hands in Hasakeh recently.

Warren said the territorial gains “validate” the program, and that the US intends to send more weapons to “reinforce success,” though again the claim of territorial gains does not appear to be verified by any other sources, and even the Kurds aren’t claiming new victories in the area.

The planned weapons drops come amid talk of the US embedding a handful of ground troops in the “Democratic Forces” in the area, which suggests the intention of throwing more arms at the group is in part an intention to prop up the YPG forces ahead of embedding with them.