US warns of invasion

No protection for former allies

ISTANBUL: The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdishled forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives.

A US official said American troops had withdrawn from two observation posts on the border, at Tel Abyad and Ras alAin, and had told the commander of the Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces the United States would not defend the SDF from an imminent Turkish offensive.

‘‘Turkey will soon be moving forward with its longplanned operation into Northern Syria,’’ the White House said after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan yesterday.

‘‘The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial ‘Caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area,’’ it added.

Turkey has long argued for the establishment of a 32km ‘‘safe zone’’ along the border, under Turkish control, driving back the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia — which is the dominant force in the SDF alliance and which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation and a threat to its national security.

The US helped the YPG defeat Islamic State militants in Syria, and had been seeking a joint ‘‘security mechanism’’ with Turkey along the border to meet Turkey’s security needs without threatening the SDF.

The SDF accused Washington yesterday of reneging on an ally which spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria, and warned it would have a ‘‘great negative’’ impact on the war against the jihadists.

‘‘The American forces did not fulfil their commitments and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey, and Turkey is now preparing for an invasion operation of northern and eastern Syria,’’ it said.

SDF official Mustafa Bali said US forces were ‘‘leaving the areas to turn into a war zone’’.

The White House statement appeared to hand over to Turkey responsibility for captured Islamic State jihadists being held in SDF facilities to the south of Turkey’s initially proposed safe zone.

‘‘Turkey will now be responsible for all Isis fighters in the area captured over the past two years,’’ it said.

The statement made pointed reference to Washington’s European allies, saying many of the captured IS fighters came from those countries, which had resisted US calls to take them back.

‘‘The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer,’’ the White House said.

In the first Turkish comment following the statement, Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey’s ‘‘safe zone’’ plan was within the framework of Syria’s territorial integrity.

‘‘The safe zone has two aims: to secure our borders by clearing away terrorist elements and to achieve the return of refugees in a safe way,’’ Kalin tweeted.

Turkey wants to settle up to 2 million Syrian refugees in the zone. It is hosting 3.6 million Syrians sheltering from conflict in their homeland.