Biden 'surely' warned Erdoğan against a new Syria offensive, says former US envoy
Photo: AA/File
US President Joe Biden probably didn't give green light to Turkey for a new military offensive in Syria's north, according to James Jeffrey, the former US special envoy to Syria.
"I'm sure President Biden warned Erdoğan against any operation in northeastern Syria," Jeffrey told al-Hurra TV during a live interview on Monday (November 1).
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit on October 31. Before the meeting, Turkey expressed its intention to carry out a new military operation in Syria.
"We are out of patience," Erdoğan had said following the killing of a police officer in an attack in Azaz town in northwestern Syria. "We are determined to eliminate the threats arising from these places either together with the powers that are active there or by our own means."
Jeffrey further said that there is continuous cooperation between the US forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey considers as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Jeffrey was the US president's special representative for the Syrian war between 2018 and 2020. He also served as the US ambassador to Turkey between 2008 and 2010.
Turkey previously carried out four major military operations in Syria and has thousands of troops in different parts of the country's north and northwest. (VK)