Turkey summons US ambassador for senior general's visit to Syria

Ankara [Turkey], March 7: Turkey on March 6 summoned US Ambassador Jeff Flake to express its displeasure over the visit of the top Pentagon general to northeastern Syria over the weekend, according to a Reuters diplomatic source.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on March 4 visited a US force base in an area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Washington's ally, in the eastern region. northern Syria. The visit was not announced in advance.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price on March 6 confirmed that Mr. Flake had come to the Turkish Foreign Ministry to meet and discuss. Price said that, to the best of the State Department's knowledge, Milley only met with US troops while in Syria, and said reporters should contact the US Department of Defense for more specific information.
The SDF, the main ally in the US-led coalition against the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), has played a key role in defeating IS across Syria. But Washington's support for the SDF has caused tension with Turkey for years.
Ankara considers the People's Protection Units (YPG), the spearhead of the SDF, to be the Syrian branch of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK ) separatist movement, and considers both terrorist organizations. The US and the European Union (EU) have also listed the PKK as a terrorist organization, but not the YPG.
Also on March 6, Syria condemned Milley 's surprise visit as a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity" of its territory. Syria also called on the US administration to immediately "put an end to the systematic and persistent violations of international law and the support of armed separatist groups".
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad considers the US deployment of forces to the SDF-controlled area an act of "invasion" and accuses the pro-US Kurdish forces there of "separatist tendencies". Kurdish officials deny any separatist intentions and say they want to maintain autonomy, which the Damascus government does not recognize.
Source: ThanhNien Newspaper