US Syria Envoy Calls for European Support to Turkey

A senior US official on Thursday called on Europe to support Turkey's military operation in Syria, where it has lost more than 50 soldiers trying to hold back a Russian-backed offensive on the last rebel stronghold.

"One of the principles that the president (Donald Trump) and the US Congress share is that there should be a collective effort, not just of Turkey and the US but of our NATO allies, essentially the Europeans," said the US special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, at a conference in Istanbul.

"We are pressing the Europeans to contribute a great deal," he added.

The Syrian government, backed by Russian air power, has steadily retaken swathes of Idlib since launching its offensive in December, forcing close to a million people from their homes in the biggest displacement of the nine-year conflict. 

Turkey fears another major influx of refugees, adding to the 3.6 million Syrians it already hosts.

It announced a full operation against Syrian forces following an air strike that killed 34 of its soldiers on February 27. 

Turkey has requested greater military support from its NATO partners, and has sought to pressure Europe by removing restrictions on migrants trying to leave its territory for the EU.  

NATO has offered its solidarity to Turkey, but has yet to take concrete action. 

"There's a Spanish Patriot (missile defence) unit right now deployed in Turkey at the Incirlik airbase, that's an example of things that NATO is actually doing and we want to see more actions like that," said Jeffrey. 

He acknowledged the situation had been complicated by Turkey's decision to buy a Russian missile defence system, the S-400, which was strongly opposed by NATO. 

"We are looking for ways to work around it but for the moment that is an issue," Jeffrey said of the S-400.