U.S. Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis poses with Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli during a NATO defence ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 14, 2018 (Photo: Reuters)
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of a NATO meeting and called on Ankara to remain focused on fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, a Pentagon statement on Thursday said.
"(Mattis) called for a renewed focus on the campaign to defeat ISIS, and to preventing any vestige of the terrorist organisation from reconstituting in Syria," the statement said, using an acronym for Islamic State. The meeting took place on Wednesday, it added.
Turkey last month launched a military incursion into the Kurdish-held Afrin region of Syria to sweep the Kurdish YPG militia away from its southern border zone.
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