Turkey denies targeting US troops in Syria
Turkey denied on Saturday targeting a US base in
northern Syria after the Pentagon said its troops had come under artillery
fire.
“There was no shot fired whatsoever on the US
observation post,” Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement to state
news agency Anadolu
He said Turkey had returned fire on Friday after
Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) shelled a Turkish border police station
from hills located one kilometer away from the US observation post in Syria.
The Pentagon said an explosion occurred “within a
few hundred meters” of a US position near the Syrian town of Kobani, and warned
that the US was prepared to meet aggression with “immediate defensive action.”
Akar said: “All necessary precautions were taken so
as not to damage the US post.”
He said the Turkish forces had stopped firing “as a
precaution” after the Americans contacted them.
“Anyway, the necessary coordinations are being
conducted between our command centers and the Americans,” Akar added.
US troops pulled back from positions along the
Turkey-Syria border last week ahead of a Turkish operation against Kurdish
militants in Syria.
The YPG was a close ally of the US in its fight
against the ISIS but is seen by Ankara as a “terrorist” off-shoot of Kurdish
insurgents in Turkey.
