The head of the Pentagon warned Turkey against conducting a military operation against Kurdish units in northern Syria

Fighters of the Turkish army

The United States reacted to the statements of the Turkish authorities about their readiness to launch a new ground operation in northern Syria at any moment.

Earlier, Ankara said it would launch a military operation if the Kurdish armed groups did not leave three areas in northern Syria, including the Manbij and Tel Rifat areas. Thus, the Turkish authorities put a kind of ultimatum to the Kurdish armed groups, which are supported by the United States.

In connection with this development, Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin hastened to warn Turkey against launching a military campaign against the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces". In a statement, the American Defense Minister said that "the United States is strongly opposed to escalation."

Austin:

It was confirmed that Lloyd Austin held telephone talks with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar. Starting with an expression of condolences in connection with the terrorist attacks in Turkey (earlier, the head of the Turkish Interior Ministry did not accept condolences from the United States, calling them the condolences of a criminal who returned to the scene of the crime), the head of the Pentagon told the Turkish Defense Minister that the airstrikes on the northern regions of Syria by the Turkish Air Force "posed an immediate threat to the security of American servicemen." Austin called the actions of the Turkish military unacceptable.

At the same time, the head of the American military department did not say what response the United States would give if the Turks nevertheless launched an operation against Kurdish detachments in the SAR.