US-Turkey tensions rise

Tensions between Ankara and Washington over the Turkish army's operation in Syria escalated further yesterday as Turkey accused the White House of misrepresenting a phone call between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, UN yesterday embarked on fresh efforts to jump-start Syrian peace talks that Western countries and the opposition fear are being undermined by a separate Russian diplomatic push.

The two days of talks in Vienna come after eight previous rounds in Geneva, during which the two sides failed to even meet each other.

The assault by Turkish troops against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria has seen Washington's fellow Nato member Ankara attacking a US-allied force, even raising fears of military confrontation between the two Alliance powers.

Turkey says it has made gradual progress in the offensive against Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia but has refused to give any time limit for the campaign.

After the Turkish and US presidents spoke late on Wednesday, the White House said Trump had urged Turkey to "to de-escalate, limit its military actions", expressing concern that the assault could harm the fight against jihadists.

But a Turkish official said the US statement did "not accurately reflect the content" of the call, adding that Trump did not share any concerns regarding "escalating violence".

Turkey launched an offensive against the YPG militia on Saturday in their enclave of Afrin, supporting Syrian rebels with air strikes and ground troops.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim yesterday hit out at the US "support for terror organisations", which "could not be accepted".

Following the Erdogan-Trump telephone talks, the US envoy to the coalition against IS, Brett McGurk, said on Twitter the "prolonged operation risks giving life to ISIS (IS) as it's on verge of defeat".

Meanwhile, US-backed SDF Kurdish militia has deployed fighters to the front line of Syria's Manbij to battle Turkey's military after Erdogan said it would be next after launching the cross-border Afrin operation, reported Aljazeera Online.