US delegation in southern Turkey to oversee Syria safe zone

A US delegation visited the Turkish border town of Akcakale on Thursday (August 15) as part of US - Turkish efforts to establish a joint operations centre to co-ordinate a planned safe zone in neighbouring Syria, the private Demiroren news agency reported.

The two NATO allies agreed in talks last week to establish a centre that would manage the zone in northern Syria although no agreement has been announced on key details of the zone, including the size of the area in question and the command structure of joint patrols that would be conducted there.

Washington and Ankara have been at odds over plans for northeastern Syria, where US allies on the ground in the battle against ISIS include the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey considers an enemy and a terrorist group.

The allies have been discussing a safe zone near the Turkish frontier that would be kept free of combatants and heavy weapons, but Turkey wants it to extend more than twice as far into Syrian territory than the United States has proposed.

Turkey has suggested it will act militarily if the United States fails to agree a solution that will safeguard the border.