The meeting will be held in China, where both Obama and Erdogan are to participate in the Group of 20 summit of leading economic powers on September 4-5.
Advertisement
Turkish-backed forces pushed deeper into northern Syria on Monday and drew a rebuke from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally the United States, which said it was concerned the battle for territory had shifted away from targeting Islamic State. The Turkish military said Turkey-backed Syrian rebels – a mix of various Islamist rebel factions – have cleared 10 more villages of “terrorist entities” and now control of an area totaling some 400 square kilometers (about 150 square miles) south and west of Jarablus. The FSA is operating with Turkish Air Force air support.
The YPG is the main component of the US-backed SDF alliance, which has been fighting ISIL in northern Syria.
Turkey has ordered predominantly Kurdish Syrian militants to withdraw east of the Euphrates river “immediately” or face more strikes by Turkish forces that crossed the border last week.
But Turkey also fears that Kurdish militia in Syria may seize border territory, which could lead to ISIS jihadis gaining control of Turkish territory. “YPG fighters maintain a significant presence along that area with their local allies”.
The U.S. has supported Turkey in its demand that the SDF withdraw east of the Euphrates, which cuts into Jarablus.
Kurdish-backed forces in northern Syria say they will withdraw south from their current positions in order not to put the lives of civilians in danger, following attacks by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels.
Syrian opposition activists have said that at least 35 civilians were killed in the Turkish-led operation so far.
But Monday saw an escalating series of warnings to Turkey from U.S. officials.
In a written statement on Monday, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook called the clashes south of the Euphrates River town of Jarablus “unacceptable” and a source of “deep concern”. Carter added that he intends to discuss the issue next week in Europe with Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik.
Turkey, which is battling a Kurdish insurgency on its soil, has said its campaign has a dual goal of “cleansing” the region of Islamic State and stopping Kurdish forces filling the void and extending the area they control near Turkey’s border.
“We have a broad and active agenda”, Rhodes said.
At the White House, Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, expressed concern that further action by Turkish troops against the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces “would complicate efforts to have that united front against ISIL that we want”, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. Carter says the USA works with all SDF fighters “in our common interest to defeat” the Islamic State group.
In two messages sent on Monday to the U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, and the resident of the U.N. Security Council, Syria’s Foreign Ministry accused Turkey of committing “full-fledged crimes against humanity”.
Ankara has said it killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” in strikes on YPG positions on Sunday – meaning the two US -backed partner forces are now fighting each other. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu once again emphasized that the Kurdish militia would continue to be targeted “until it moves east of the Euphrates River”.
In another sign of brewing discord, Cook said the Kurdish pullback to the east side of the Euphrates has “largely occurred”.
But Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hit back, saying: “From the beginning we have been defending Turkey’s territorial integrity”. He denied Turkey was entering the war in Syria, saying, “We are not pursuing an aim of becoming a permanent power in Syria. Turkey is not an invader”. “No one has the right to tell Turkey to ‘fight this terror organization but don’t fight that terror organization, ‘” he said.
The Turkish government brands all Kurdish separatist forces as “terrorists”, whether located in Syria, Iraq or Turkey itself. The result is that separate US-backed Syrian militias are fighting each other.
According to press reports, Jaysh al Tahrir, an Islamist militia described by Washington as a “moderate rebel group”, has received several TOW anti-tank missiles from the USA and is presumably now using them against the SDF, which has Pentagon Special Forces operators embedded within it, who could now find themselves targeted by missiles supplied by their own government.
Advertisement
This possibility only demonstrates the increasing recklessness and irrationality of the policy of United States imperialism in Syria and throughout the Middle East.
