(Washington) The United States fears that Turkey will carry out its threat to launch a new offensive in northern Syria despite American warnings to prevent it, admitted on Wednesday an American diplomat.
Posted at 11:39 a.m.
Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, reaffirmed during a parliamentary hearing her government’s “deep concern” over threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Kurdish fighters in Syria.
“We have increased our diplomatic contacts to try to stop this,” she said. “We are absolutely relentlessly lobbying the Turkish government to get it to renounce this reckless adventure,” she insisted.
Asked if Ankara would give up thanks to these American efforts, the State Department official replied: “I will be quite frank, I cannot give you the assurance of that”.
The Turkish head of state has threatened on several occasions since the end of May to carry out a new military operation against two localities in northern Syria, targeting Kurdish fighters whom he describes as “terrorists”.
Among them are the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which were supported by the United States and the international coalition against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
Washington has multiplied warnings against such an offensive which, in its view, risks destabilizing the region and jeopardizing the anti-jihadist fight.
This new standoff illustrates the recurring tensions between the United States and Turkey, yet allies within NATO, at a time when Ankara, moreover, is opposed to the accession of Finland and Sweden to the Atlantic Alliance, supported by the other members of the organization.