US, France troops could secure Syria's northern border, Syrian Kurdish official says

Talks are taking place on whether US and French troops could secure a border zone in northern Syria as part of efforts to defuse conflict between Turkiye and Western-backed Kurdish Syrian forces, a senior Syrian Kurdish official said, Reuters reports.

Ankara has warned that it will carry out a cross-border offensive into north-eastern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia if the group does not meet Turkish demands.

Turkiye regards the YPG, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as a terrorist group linked to Kurdish PKK militants who for 40 years have waged an insurgency against the Turkish state.