Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and US soldiers patrol the Kurdish-held town of Al-Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria bordering Turkey on November 4, 2018 Delil SOULEIMAN (AFP/File)
The United States responded to Turkey’s announcement that a military operation would soon begin against a US-backed Kurdish military in northeast Syria, claiming on Wednesday such unilateral action was “very worrying and unacceptable.”
“Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as U.S. personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern. We would find any such actions unacceptable,” Pentagon spokesman, Commander Sean Robertson, said in a statement.
Robertson added that the US was committed to ensuring Turkey’s border security, but that the fight against the Islamic State was not over and the Syrian Democratic Forces remain a committed partner against the extremist group.
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would launch a new operation in Syria within days against a US-backed Kurdish militia that Ankara considers a terrorist group.
“We will start an operation to free the east of the Euphrates from the separatist terrorist organisation in the next few days,” Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, referring to territory held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey says the YPG is a “terrorist offshoot” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
“The target is never American soldiers but terrorist organisation members active in the region,” Erdogan told the audience at a defence industry summit.
AFP contributed to this report.
