Turkey's Erdogan says his troops are ready to take over Syria's Manbij area
ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON - Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij, where four US citizens died in an Islamic State-claimed bombing last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Sunday, the Turkish presidential office said.
Following the blast in Manbij, on Sunday, a bomb blast in a bus killed three civilians in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, a Kurdish-majority region, Observers said.
Nine other people, including fighters, were wounded in the explosion.
No group claimed responsibility for this attack.
The blast came on the anniversary of Operation Olive Branch, an air and ground assault launched by Turkey in 2018 on the mainly-Kurdish Afrin to drive out the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which it sees as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) by Ankara.
Erdogan told Trump on the phone call that the suicide bombing in Manbij, a town in northeast Syria controlled by a militia allied to United States-backed Kurdish forces, was a provocative act aimed at affecting Trump's decision last month to withdraw US troops from Syria.
Trump confounded his own national security team with a surprise decision on Dec 19 to withdraw all 2,000 US troops from Syria, declaring the IS group had been defeated there, a view not shared by many experts.
Manbij, which US-backed forces captured from the IS group in 2016, has emerged as a focal point of tensions after Trump's decision to withdraw US forces whose presence has effectively deterred Turkey from attacking Kurdish forces.
Manbij is controlled by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia allied to the US-backed Kurdish YPG.
In its description of the call, the White House made no mention of Erdogan's offer to take over security in Manbij but said the two men agreed to keep pursuing a negotiated settlement for northeastern Syria that meets both nations' security needs.
"President Trump underscored the importance of defeating terrorist elements that remain in Syria," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a description of the call.
"The two leaders agreed to continue to pursue a negotiated solution for northeast Syria that achieves our respective security concerns. They also discussed their mutual interest in expanding the trade relationship between the United States and Turkey," the spokeswoman added.
Trump has previously warned Turkey not to attack the Kurds in Syria and appeared to threaten Turkey's economy if it did.
In its statement, the Turkish presidency also said that the two leaders had agreed to accelerate discussions between their chiefs of staff about a safe zone in northeastern Syria.
Last week, Trump suggested creating a safe zone, without elaborating. The SDF said on Wednesday it was ready to help create a safe zone, as fears grow that the US withdrawal will give Turkey the opportunity to mount a new assault.
Reuters - Afp
(China Daily 01/22/2019 page11)
