Turkish military says 71 Kurdish militants killed in Syria in last week

“If the USA were to prefer terrorist organizations over Turkey in the fight against IS, that would be their own decision, but that wouldn’t be something we would consent” to, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The previous troops were quietly sent by the Obama administration to work with local allies against IS; majority were special forces and advisers, and none brought heavy weapons like artillery with them. Turkey and Syria support opposite sides in the Syrian civil war. Mercy Corps had worked from Turkey in close cooperation with the government since 2012.

The attack on the city could happen as soon as coalition partners decide on the makeup of the force, but it will go easier, meaning fewer coalition casualties while the fight in Mosul in ongoing, he said.

Last week, the US-backed group struck a deal with Russian Federation to turn over up to 20 villages west of Manbij to the Syrian Army, creating a buffer zone between the Kurdish-dominated militia and the Turks.

In efforts to calm the situation, the SDF has pledged to hand some territory around Manbij to regime forces that intend to act as a buffer between Turkish and Kurdish forces.

Also at the hearing, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, who leads U.S. Africa Command, said Islamic State is making inroads into Somalia, which will test African Union forces and the local government that’s already contending with al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-backed group.

A top U.S. commander last week also delivered a robust defence of the YPG, saying he had seen no evidence linking them to attacks on Turkey and signalling some role for them in the final push for Raqqa – a predominantly Arab city. The Pentagon said Monday that USA forces have also taken up positions on the outskirts of Manbij to try to keep a lid on tensions. “Such a harsh step in completely excluding Turkey there will cause a problem for relations between the countries”, the Turkish official said.

Russian and Turkish media reported that the talks would include a meeting of the high-level bilateral cooperation council that will include negotiations on the possible purchase by Turkey of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

Under a framework established in 2015, a US colonel in Qatar and a Russian counterpart in Syria discuss the locations of operations their countries are carrying out in Syria without sharing intelligence.

Captivated by the idea of fighting militants, or dedicated to starting a “revolution”, foreigners have diverse reasons for joining the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.

An America-based aid group that was assisting Syrian refugees in Turkey has been forced to shut down its operations by the Ankara government.

Ankara believes it is linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which seeks greater rights and autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish minority and has waged a bloody campaign against the Turkish state since 1984.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, on March 9 to discuss the meeting, with Medvedev saying he had signed a decree allowing some agricultural products to be exported from Turkey to Russia, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.