Turkey-US ties facing challenges

Ankara rejects military operation limited to northern Syria's Afrin

ANKARA - Turkey's offensive against US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria's Afrin region poses a new challenge to its already ailing ties with the United States, said local experts.

The US is facing yet another diplomatic dilemma in the Middle East, after its NATO partner's decision to launch a military operation against a Kurdish militia, which the Pentagon is openly arming but considered by Ankara as an affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.