Phone call Trump - Erdogan: US will not interfere in Turkey's operation in Syria

(Patria) – White House officials stated on Sunday evening that Turkey will soon launch operations in northeastern Syria with the aim of returning refugees from Syria, and that American forces will not interfere.

The statement was issued after a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

Reuters writes that the Turkish president expressed dissatisfaction during the phone call because the US had not implemented the agreement to create a security zone east of the Euphrates River.

Turkey had previously indicated its intention to launch an operation, warning that its entry into the area where the US intended to mediate between Turkey and Syrian Kurds was 'imminent'.

The US government made it clear that it would not interfere, and that American troops 'will no longer be in that area'. They also stated that they leave the decision on the fate of ISIL fighters captured during the fighting in that area to Turkey. Many of them are held by Kurdish forces, but Turkey considers Kurds as enemies, writes Euronews.

The White House claims that the US asked the home countries of captured ISIL fighters to take them back, specifically France, Germany, and other EU countries, but these countries refused.

'From now on, Turkey will be responsible for all ISIL fighters captured in the area in the last two years as part of the defeat of the territorial 'Caliphate' by the United States,' the White House statement reads.

The US Congress warned the White House last month in a report not to reduce forces in Syria to counterbalance Iran's influence and to prevent the resurgence of ISIL.

The Syria Study Group, which authored the report, warns that the war in Syria is far from over and that ISIL is still a threat, which contradicts the White House's claim on Sunday evening that ISIL has been defeated, Euronews reports.