The United States scrambled on Monday to get its feuding allies, Turkey and Kurdish YPG militia, to focus their firepower on the Islamic State group instead of each other after clashes that have threatened to unravel America’s war strategy in Syria.
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Quoting a briefing by the Department of Defense, he added: ‘We call on all armed actors to stand down.the United States is actively engaged to facilitate such deconfliction and unity of focus on ISIL, which remains a lethal and common threat’.
Carter said chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Joseph Dunford, had spoken with his Turkish counterpart on Sunday over the issue.
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”.
“In the places where it has moved, the YPG forces everyone out – including Kurds – who do not think like it does and carries out ethnic cleansing”, he added.
Carter said he understood Turkish concerns that the YPG was intent on controlling border areas as a prelude to setting up a statelet in northeastern Syria to be called “Rojava”, and he renewed USA calls on the YPG to retreat east of the Euphrates River.
But Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not extend territory they already control along Turkey’s border, as it is about driving Daesh from its strongholds.
“They have to withdraw to the east of Jarablus, Otherwise, we will do what is necessary”, he told Hurriyet.
Ankara-backed forces faced little resistance when they captured the IS border stronghold of Jarabulus last week, days after a suspected IS suicide bombing killed 55 people in southeast Turkey.
Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive, seemingly bent on creating a de facto “safe zone” free of IS and the Kurds near its border.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 40 civilians were killed in Turkish shelling and air strikes on pro-Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Sunday.
The United States has called on the Syrian Kurds to pull back to the east side of the Euphrates, in accordance with US assurances given to the Turks, and Cook said this pullback has “largely occurred”.
The clashes bolster Western concerns that Turkey’s military incursion into Syria is intended, in part, to target USA -supported Kurdish forces known as the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, the YPG militia.
Turkish forces have attacked what they say are Kurdish “terrorists” since crossing the border last week.
He also said the USA has communicated to the SDF that they should not engage in military activity against Turkish forces.
Mr. Obama will also speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the summit about Syria and Ukraine, Mr. Rhodes said, but no formal meeting is scheduled.
It has put Ankara at odds with Washington and adds to tensions when Turkey’s government is still reeling from last month’s failed coup, which it says Washington was too slow to condemn. “They have fought hard and sacrificed to try and rid Syria of this hateful group”.
On Monday, the SDF-backed Jarabulus Military Council said it would withdraw its fighters to the south of Sajur river, in order to protect civilians. The Sajour is north of Manbij. The region lies between two Kurdish-controlled cantons – one east of the Euphrates and the other to the west near the Mediterranean.
“Taking on the YPG is a risk for the Turkish government”, said our correspondent.
At least 35 civilians were killed, according to activists.
Turkey also suffered its first casualty in Operation Euphrates Shield after an attack by Kurdish fighters left one soldier dead and three injured.
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Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke Monday, as Syrian opposition groups reported that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have captured more towns and villages in northern Syria.
