Turkey has asked Washington to hand over its bases in Syria as the Trump administration appeared to reverse plans to withdraw from the country’s north-east on Tuesday, jeopardising Ankara’s plans to launch a widespread military operation targeting Kurdish groups. Bolton, before arriving in Ankara, had directly contradicted the US president, claiming Washington would not leave Syria without first receiving guarantees that Turkey would not attack its allies. Erdoğan on Tuesday repeated his insistence that there was no distinction between the YPG in Syria and the PKK in Turkey, with whom Ankara has fought a four-decade civil war. The group has retained significant firepower; on Saturday, Isis members fired a guided missile at a Kurdish position, seriously wounding two British special forces members who were assisting the local fighters. Both Bolton and Pompeo are Iran hawks and their oft-stated goals had been thrown into confusion after Trump’s December announcement.

Source: The Guardian January 08, 2019 12:10 UTC