Turkey urges US to withdraw from Syria’s Manbij

Turkey has known as on the United States to withdraw its protection power personnel from northern Syria’s Manbij grunt after announcing Ankara’s understanding to push Syrian Kurdish combatants from the condominium, in line with local media.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said on Saturday that it turn into once « predominant for them [US] to without lengthen withdraw from Manbij » to boot to catch « extra concrete steps as a exchange of words » to stay its pork up for the Syrian Kurdish Of us’s Protection Items (YPG) armed community.

« The US must in the reduction of ties with the terrorist organisation, » he suggested reporters in Turkey’s Mediterranean province, Antalya, the Turkish day-to-day Hurriyet reported.

The remarks got right here a day after, in line with the Turkish presidency, US National Security Consultant HR McMaster assured Ankara in a mobile phone call on Friday that Washington would now now not give weapons to YPG, Hurriyet reported.

Turkey considers YPG, the protection power fly of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Celebration (PYD) as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Team’ Celebration (PKK), which is outlawed in Turkey. Ankara says pushing Syrian Kurdish combatants a ways from northern Syria is critical for Turkey’s national security.

Military operation

On January 20, Turkey launched a protection power operation alongside with the Free Syrian Navy (FSA) – a Syrian rebellion community – to power YPG from Syria’s northwestern district of Afrin.

On Friday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish troops might maybe well well push YPG the final device east to the frontier with Iraq, including Manbij, Hurriyet reported.

In step with an announcement revealed by the Turkish navy on Saturday, about 394 combatants had been « neutralised » since the beginning of the Afrin operation.

« 340 targets of the PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party], KCK [Kurdistan Communities Union], PYD/YPG [Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party/People’s protection Units], and ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] fear organisations fetch been destroyed, » the navy said.

It also said that three Turkish squaddies and Thirteen members of the allied FSA had been killed in the operation.

Additionally on Saturday, a rocket turn into once fired from Afrin hit Turkey’s border province of Kilis, injuring two of us after hitting a five-storey constructing in the neighbourhood of 7 Aralik, in line with Turkey’s grunt-plug records agency, Anadolu Agency.