UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft on Thursday warned Turkey of consequences should it fail to protect the Kurdish population in Syria in its military operation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has told the government of Turkey that they bear full responsibility for protecting the Kurdish population and religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring that no humanitarian crisis takes place, Craft told reporters.
In addition, Turkey is responsible for ensuring that all Islamic State (IS) fighters in prison remain in prison, and that the IS does not reconstitute itself "in any way, shape, or form," she said after the UN Security Council held closed-door consultations on the situation in northeast Syria after Turkey launched a military operation there.
"Failure to play by the rules to protect vulnerable populations, failure to guarantee that ISIS cannot exploit these actions to reconstitute will have consequences," she said, using another short form of the terrorist group.
She reiterated that the United States has not endorsed Turkey's invasion. "As the president (Trump) has made abundantly clear, the U.S. has not in any way endorsed the decision of the government of Turkey to mount a military incursion into northeast Syria."
Turkey launched its military operation after a telephone call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which Trump said the United States would pull out its troops from northeast Syria, where Kurdish fighters had been fighting IS militants alongside the U.S. troops.
