US wants Syria ‘safe zone’ to protect Turkey, Kurds: Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that talks were under way on Washington’s proposal to establish a “safe zone” in flashpoint border areas of northeastern Syria, where tensions are rising between Turkey and Kurdish militia. “We want to make sure that the folks who fought with us to down the (Islamic State group) have security... and also that terrorists acting out of Syria aren’t able to attack Turkey,” Pompeo said.

“We want a secure border for all the parties,” he said in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the latest leg of a whirlwind Middle East tour. Washington is holding talks with all relevant sides about such a “safe zone”, he added. His comments came a day after US President Donald Trump in a tweet pushed for the creation of a 20-mile (30-kilometre) “safe zone”, without saying who would create, enforce or pay for it. Trump also did not say exactly where such a buffer area would be set up.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday said his country was “not against” a “security zone” in Syria. Turky not intimidated Turkey on Monday vowed it would not be intimidated by US President Donald Trump’s threats of economic devastation if Ankara attacks Kurdish forces as American troops withdraw.

Trump’s threat came after Ankara repeatedly threatened a new cross-border operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which have been working closely with the United States in the war on Islamic State (IS) extremists.