The White House envoy coordinating the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group was holding talks in Ankara on Friday a day after visiting Syrian Kurdish militants.
Envoy Brett McGurk's visit on Friday comes amid Turkish frustrations with Washington's decision to arm Syrian Kurdish YPG militants who are engaged in a battle to oust IS from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.
McGurk is expected to hold meetings with the heads of Turkish Foreign and Defense Ministries. McGurk was to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's deputy undersecretary, Sedat Önal according to the reports.
On June 30, the Turkish military retaliated to harassing fire from the YPG-controlled Afrin region targeting a military post in the border province of Hatay, Doğan News Agency reported.
On Thursday, the US Department of State said that McGurk had visited the areas of Syria cleared of the IS, including the areas north of Raqqa, the town of Tabqa and the Tabqa Dam on June 28-29. The areas were recaptured by the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) earlier this year.
The US-led Coalition against the Islamic State terror group, comprised of 69 members, is conducting airstrikes, as well as ground-based and rocket-propelled artillery fire against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Syrian campaign is being conducted without permission from Damascus. In March, the US Department of State announced that the members of the coalition were scheduled to meet in Washington in July to coordinate the next phases of the campaign against terrorists.
