PARIS — The White House national security adviser says the U.S. is “very sympathetic” to France in its dispute with Turkey over a naval standoff in the Mediterranean Sea between the two NATO allies. The festering row has exposed NATO’s struggle to keep order among its ranks, and its diminished U.S. leadership under President Donald Trump. That’s not good,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien told reporters in Paris on Wednesday. He said Trump is available to help defuse tensions, thanks to his personal relationships with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron. According to French accounts of the June 10 incident, the frigate Courbet was illuminated by the targeting radar of a Turkish warship that was escorting a cargo ship.

Source: International New York Times July 15, 2020 20:48 UTC