Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks with people after Friday prayers at a mosque inside his presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 24. 2017. Erdogan's office says the Turkish leader has discussed the Syrian crisis and other regional issues with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Pool via AP)
Republished November 24, 2017 - 3:18 PM
Original Publication Date November 24, 2017 - 2:41 PM
ANKARA, Turkey - The Latest on U.S. policy on Kurdish fighters in Syria (all times local):
2:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump has told Turkey's president that the United States will cut off its supply of arms to Kurdish fighters in Syria.
The decision is sure to please Turkey but further alienate Syrian Kurds who bore much of the fight against the Islamic State group.
Word of the change in policy came in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A Turkish official says Trump said he'd "given clear instructions" that the Kurds will receive no more weapons.
The White House confirmed the move in a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed Turkey of "pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."
The move could help ease strained tensions between the U.S. and Turkey.
___
1:40 a.m.
The White House says President Donald Trump has told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the United States is making "adjustments" to its military support for partners in Syria.
It's a reference to the U.S. halting the supply of arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The White House says the decision comes as the Syria conflict moves into a "stabilization phase" of ensuring the Islamic State group can't return. That phase follows the recent fall of the extremist group's self-declared capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The Trump administration moved earlier this year to arm the Kurds to help them liberate Raqqa. That move incensed Erdogan's government.
The White House says Trump and Erdogan also discussed the political process for ending the Syrian civil war and Turkish purchases of U.S. military equipment.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017