US urges Turkey to halt Syria strikes

The United States pressed Turkey on Saturday to halt military strikes on Kurdish and Syrian regime targets Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo, as Ankara weighs a joint ground assault with Saudi troops.

"We are concerned about the situation north of Aleppo and are working to de-escalate tensions on all sides," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

State-run news agency Anatolia, quoting a military source, said the armed forces shelled Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) targets around the town of Azaz, and also responded to regime fire on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey's southern Hatay region.

There were no further details on the nature of the Turkish strikes, but they likely would involve artillery fire from tanks.

"W‎e have urged Syrian Kurdish and other forces affiliated with the YPG not to take advantage of a confused situation by seizing new territory," Kirby said.

‎"We have also seen reports of artillery fire from the Turkish side of the border and urged Turkey to cease such fires.‎"...
 gconew.com
14/2/16
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