International

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Turkey gave advance notice that it was planning to launch an attack on US-allied Kurdish militias in Syria, but he did not specify if Washington tried to dissuade Ankara.
     ”Turkey was candid,” Mattis told reporters aboard a plane traveling to Asia from the US. ”They warned us before they launched the aircraft they were going to do it, in consultation with us.”

"Turkey is a NATO ally. It's the only NATO country with an active insurgency inside its borders. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns," said Mattis, who noted that gains against Islamic State did not soothe Turkey’s concerns over a breakaway Kurdish state on territory.