简体中文
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to limit his forces' assault against a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, the White House said.
US President Donald Trump (L) welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, May 16, 2017.
In a telephone call, Trump called on Erdogan to "de-escalate" the attack on Afrin and expressed concern about "the destructive and false" anti-American rhetoric emanating from Turkey.
Over the weekend Turkish forces backed by local Syrian Arab fighters launched an incursion into Afrin, a border canton administered by a local Kurdish-led council and defended by the YPG militia.
United States forces work with and support the YPG in the east of Syria, where Kurdish fighters form the backbone of the local force that drove ISIL out of its "capital" Raqa.
But Turkey sees the entire YPG group as a "terrorist" faction of the banned PKK Kurdish guerrilla government, which has been fighting a deadly insurgency inside Turkey for three decades.
Kurdish leaders have demanded that the United States rein in Turkey, a NATO ally, and vowed to resist its cross-border operation.
According to a White House statement, Trump "urged Turkey to de-escalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees.
"He urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces," it added.
Turkish military forces' howitzers attack during the "Operation Olive Branch" in Afrin, Syria, January 23, 2018.
The US has more than 2,000 special forces and support troops inside Syria, mainly east of the Euphrates in an area also controlled by the YPG but separate from Afrin, which is west of the river.
Erdogan told Trump the US must halt weapons support to the YPG.
Ankara's operation aimed to "purge terrorist elements" from Afrin for Turkey's national security and was conducted on the basis of international law, the statement from the Turkish president's office said.
A man with a Turkish flag waves as people see off Turkish armored personnel carriers, headed to Afrin, Syria for the "Operation Olive Branch," in Sucu neighbourhood of Kirikhan district of Hatay, Turkey, January 23, 2018.
Turkey to extend Syria operation
Erdogan said on Wednesday Turkey would extend its military operation in Syria to the town of Manbij, a move that could potentially bring Turkish forces into confrontation with those of their NATO ally the US.
A push towards Manbij, in a separate Kurdish-held enclave some 100 km (60 miles) east of Afrin, could threaten US plans to stabilise a swath of northeast Syria.
None of the Americans are known to be based in the Afrin area, but they are deployed in the Kurdish-held pocket that includes Manbij.
"With the Olive Branch operation, we have once again thwarted the game of those sneaky forces whose interests in the region are different," Erdogan said in a speech to provincial leaders in Ankara. "Starting in Manbij, we will continue to thwart their game."
(AFP&REUTERS)
