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WORLD NEWS A9
Wednesday 8 March 2017

Turkish, US, Russian military chiefs discuss Syria tensions

Turkey’s Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, center, U.S. Chairman Turkish President Recep day that U.S. forces have not establish coordination,
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Rus- Tayyip Erdogan, address- also taken up positions on the risk of a conflict that
sia’s Chief of Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and their delegations ing a campaign rally in the the outskirts of Manbij to try we would not desire can
attend a meeting in the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, Turkish capital Ankara, reit- to keep a lid on tensions. emerge. That’s the real aim
Turkey, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. erated his readiness to con- Turkish Prime Minister Bi- of the meeting.”
front the Kurdish forces. nali Yildirim said the meet- The Russian Defense Minis-
(Turkish Military, Pool Photo via AP) “We can clear Manbij to- ings would continue on try said in a terse statement
gether, then we can clear Wednesday. that the military chiefs
Raqqa together,” he said. “There is a need for an ef- talked about “the current
The U.S. has a few hundred fective coordination in situation in the fight against
special operations forces the efforts to clear Syria terrorist organizations in Syr-
embedded with the SDF of all terror groups be- ia in the context of raising
and wants the alliance to cause so many countries the efficiency of confront-
lead the march on Raqqa. are involved there,” he ing all terrorist organizations
The Pentagon said Mon- told reporters. “If we can- in the future.”q

BASSEM MROUE denounced other such ar-
SUZAN FRASER rangements as “forced
Associated Press displacement” and war
BEIRUT (AP) — The top gen- crimes.
erals from Turkey, the Unit- The Siege Watch moni-
ed States and Russia met toring group says around
Tuesday in Turkey to dis- 400,000 people are
cuss mutual suspicions over trapped under the con-
northern Syria military op- stant bombardment.
erations, as Russia’s military The surprise meeting be-
announced a two-week tween Turkey’s Gen. Hulusi
long cease-fire between Akar, Marine Corps Gen.
rebels and the government Joseph Dunford, the chair-
in the suburbs of the Syrian man of the U.S. Joint Chiefs
capital, Damascus. of Staff, and Gen. Valery
The Russian military said Gerasimov, the chief of the
a cease-fire has been Russian General Staff, was
in place since Tuesday, called to address recipro-
March 6, and will extend cal mistrust between Turk-
until March 20, for the East- ish-backed Syrian opposi-
ern Ghouta region outside tion forces, U.S.-backed
Damascus, but activists Kurdish forces, and Russian-
reported a number of air- allied Syrian government
strikes and artillery strikes by forces, fighting their way
government forces, killing toward the Islamic State
two civilians. group’s de facto capital,
The White Helmets search- Raqqa.
and-rescue group said Turkey, a NATO ally, views
they dug up the bodies of the Kurdish group that
a child and an adult from dominates the Syria Dem-
the rubble of the strikes on ocratic Forces as terror-
Harasta, inside the rebel- ists and has threatened to
held Ghouta pocket. drive them from the north-
Government forces have ern town of Manbij, which
intensified their siege the alliance captured from
against the civilians and the militants last year with
rebels there since Febru- the aid of U.S.-led coalition
ary in an effort to secure airstrikes. Turkey and Syria
a surrender that would meanwhile support oppo-
see part of the population site sides in the Syrian civil
sent to exile. The U.N. has war.