Ahead of the arrival of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to the Turkish capital on Thursday, Ankara reiterated its calls that Washington must pull out heavy arms from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main element of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in east Syria, further complicating relations between both countries.
Talks held Thursday night between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Tillerson had mainly focused on the issue of arming Kurdish units.
Speaking from Brussels, Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said he met with US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on the sidelines of a NATO meeting and called on the Pentagon to cut its support to the People’s Protection Units in Syria.
However, prior to landing in Ankara, Tillerson said from Beirut: “We have never given heavy arms to the YPG, so there’s none to take back.”
During talks held with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, Jordanian King Abdullah II commended Russia's important role and Putin's efforts to reach a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, leading to achieve more "hope" in the region.
The King also praised the joint cooperation between both countries on bringing better days to Syria.
Separately, Moscow announced on Thursday that five Russian nationals might have been killed in the US-led airstrike in Syria last week, insisting those killed in the clash were not members of the Russian armed forces.
"According to preliminary information, we could be talking about the deaths of five people… as a result of an armed confrontation whose causes are being examined," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told reporters at a press briefing Thursday.
Leaked reports issued on Tuesday said more than 100 Russian mercenaries supporting Bashar Assad’s regime, were killed in the Feb. 7 clash in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, creating enormous uproar in Russia.
