BRUSSELS: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis urged Turkey to remain focused on fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, a Pentagon statement on Thursday said. Relations between the United States and Turkey, allies within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, have become frayed by their diverging interests in the Syrian civil war. “He called for a renewed focus on the campaign to defeat ISIS, and to preventing any vestige of the terrorist organisation from reconstituting in Syria,” the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State. US Secretary of State Tillerson is expected to visit Turkey on Thursday and Friday, where US officials predicted he will have difficult conversations. Washington has backed the YPG in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

Source: Pakistan Today February 15, 2018 11:29 UTC