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AFP
The US will not be involved in the operation, the White House said
The White House says Turkey will soon begin an operation in north-east Syria, with US forces no longer in the immediate area.
The move was confirmed in a statement late on Sunday following a call between President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The US will not be involved in or support the Turkish operation, it said.
The statement added that Turkey would now be responsible for all Islamic State prisoners in the area.
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“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria,” the statement said.
“The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate’, will no longer be in the immediate area.”
The White House statement also said that Turkey would take over all responsibility for Islamic State (IS) group fighters captured over the past two years.
“The United States government has pressed France, Germany, and other European nations, from which many captured ISIS fighters came, to take them back but they did not want them and refused.
“The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer.”