WASHINGTON, October 8. /TASS/. The US government currently has no information indicating that Turkey has already launched its planned military operation in northeastern Syria, a senior US administration official said.
"The President, after learning of the intended Turkish operation - although we have not seen any operation taking place as of now - made it clear, and rightly made it clear as Commander-in-Chief, that our small number of troops in the relatively small 20-to 30-mile safety zone or border region in Northern Syria should not be danger," the official said.
He confirmed that, according to the data that Washington has, Turkey’s operation may coincide with efforts to return Syrian refugees to those regions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on October 1 that Ankara intended to act on its own to set up a safety zone east of the Euphrates River in Syria, because it failed to attain the intended goals in the course of phone consultations with the US side. On October 6, Erdogan held a phone conversation with Trump, during which the US side said it would not join the planned Turkish military operation in Syria or support it in any way, while US servicemen will be withdrawn from the immediate area of it.
On Monday, the United States, who sided with the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), started withdrawing their personnel and military hardware from their bases in Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad.