Turkey criticises France, US for commenting on 30-days Syria ceasefire

Turkey today sharply criticised France and the United States for arguing a ceasefire in Syria should apply to its military operation against Kurdish militia, as new tensions mounted between Ankara and its NATO allies.
The United Nations Security Council, crucially including regime ally Russia, has agreed on a 30-day nationwide ceasefire in Syria although this has yet to be implemented or end the violence in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta.
Turkey has welcomed the ceasefire but repeatedly insisted any truce will not affect its over the month-long operation in the Afrin region against Kurdish militia Ankara believes to be terrorists.
French President Emmanuel Macron told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in telephone talks Monday the ceasefire must be applied across the country "including in Afrin," the French presidency said.

An American fighter jet shoots down Syria warplane after allies bombed

An American fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane that the US-led coalition said attacked its allies in the fight against the Islamic State group in the war-torn country.

The escalation comes as Syria's six-year-old war becomes ever more complex, with US forces and their allies converging on the northern IS bastion of Raqa in close proximity to Russian-backed regime troops.

Further complicating matters, Iran said it launched missile strikes Sunday against "terror bases" in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province in revenge for deadly attacks on its capital claimed by IS.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces -- an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters -- is battling to oust the jihadists from Raqa, and broke into the IS stronghold city last week.

Government forces are not involved in the battle for Raqa, but they are advancing in an area southwest of the city, skirting around SDF fighters, their eyes set on the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

"Aircraft from the 'international coalition' targeted one of our fighter planes in the Resafa region of southern Raqa province this afternoon while it was conducting a mission against the terrorist Islamic State group," said the army.

It warned of "the grave consequences of this flagrant aggression".

The US-led coalition later confirmed it shot down the Syrian warplane it said had dropped bombs near SDF forces.

"At 6:43 pm (1743 GMT), a Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters... In accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defence of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a US F/A-18E Super Hornet," the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.

READ MORE