UNITED NATIONS – The United States warned Turkey at the United Nations on Thursday that it faced “consequences” if its assault against Kurdish militias in northeast Syria did not protect vulnerable populations or contain Islamic State militants.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, speaking after a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on Syria, did not specify what those consequences could be.
Turkey pounded US-allied Kurdish militia in Syria for a second day on Thursday, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee and killing dozens.
“Failure to play by the rules, to protect vulnerable populations, failure to guarantee that ISIS cannot exploit these actions to reconstitute, will have consequences,” Craft told reporters.
The 15-member Security Council met at the request of the five European nations: Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland. In a joint statement, the European states called on Turkey to stop its military action.