ANKARA: Turkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.
“We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.
“Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too,” he added.
On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.
Strains in US-Turkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Washington’s main ally against Islamic State in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.
NATO member Turkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.
Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had “thwarted attempts to surround” it from the southern borders, and Turkiye was determined to “completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations.”
“God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period,” he said.
In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after a decade of animosity.
Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.
Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
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Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
US launches new retaliatory strikes against Daesh in Syria after deadly ambush
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: The US has launched another round of retaliatory strikes against the Daesh in Syria following last month’s ambush that killed two US soldiers and one American civilian interpreter in the country.
The large-scale strikes, conducted by the US alongside partner forces, occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET, according to US Central Command. The strikes hit multiple Daesh targets across Syria.
Saturday’s strikes are part of a broader operation that is part of President Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Daesh attack that killed Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, and Ayad Mansoor Sakat, the civilian interpreter, in Palmyra last month.
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
A day earlier, Syrian officials said their security forces had arrested the military leader of Daesh’s operations in the Levant.
The US military said Saturday’s strikes were carried out alongside partner forces without specifying which forces had taken part.
The Trump administration is calling the response to the Palmyra attacks Operation Hawkeye Strike. Both Torres-Tovar and Howard were members of the Iowa National Guard.
It launched Dec. 19 with another large-scale strike that hit 70 targets across central Syria that had Daesh infrastructure and weapons.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has for years been the US’s main partner in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington has increasingly been coordinating with the central government in Damascus.
Syria recently joined the global coalition against Daesh.
