thatSyria | conflict | Kurds | Assad associated with xDamascus, Syria | AFP | Sunday 2/17/2019 – 16:21 UTC+1 | 287 wordsPresident Bashar al-Assad warned Syria’s Kurds Sunday that their ally the United States would not protect them against any Turkish offensive as Washington looks to withdraw it troops. Any withdrawal risks leaving the Kurds exposed to a long threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey, which views Kurdish fighters as “terrorists”. “We tell those groups who are betting on the Americans that the Americans will not protect you,” Assad said in a televised speech. “If you don’t prepare yourselves to defend your country and resist, you will be nothing but a slave to the Ottomans,” Assad warned, using a historic term for Turks. “Every inch of Syria will be liberated,” Assad said in Sunday’s speech.

Source: Punch February 17, 2019 15:56 UTC