US not planning to send new weapons to Turkey for Syria campaign
The State Department clarifies its special envoy's remarks that the United States would be supplying ammunition to Turkey — which has been engaged in battle in Idlib, Syria — saying only that the United States is considering Turkish requests for assistance.
The Donald Trump administration will not provide fresh supplies of ammunition to Turkey for its ongoing offensive into Syria’s contested Idlib province, where an airstrike that killed at least 34 Turkish troops last week has sparked a tit-for-tat between the NATO ally and the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The State Department's special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, told reporters today during a trip to Idlib province that the United States would provide fresh supplies of ammunition to Ankara. But officials later clarified to Al-Monitor that Jeffrey’s comments referred to ongoing US support to Turkey.
“On Ambassador Jeffrey’s comments in Turkey today regarding equipment and assistance for the Turkish government, there is nothing particularly new here as he was talking in the context of what we are already doing,” a State Department official told Al-Monitor. “Turkey is a NATO ally with a largely US-equipped and supplied military. In his comments he acknowledged that we are considering Turkish requests for assistance.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft also joined the trip over the border into Syria — the first time senior American officials have stepped foot in rebel-held territory taken from the Assad regime.
