WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The general added that last Thursday, Mattis wrote a detailed letter to Isik providing a routine update on the situation.
"Secretary Mattis next will once again meet with his Turkish counterpart in Europe and go through this," Dunford stated on Monday when discussing arms supplies to the Kurds within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In recent weeks, the town of al-Tanf has turned into a strategically important point where the interests of the US-led coalition and pro-Damascus forces clashed.
Currently, the Syrian Army and its allies are advancing to the east along the Damascus-Baghdad highway, a strategic route in southeast Syria. The highway is also a point of interest for the US-led coalition in the area of al-Tanf, where Syria borders with Iraq and Jordan. The US also has a military base in al-Tanf where opposition forces have been trained.
While, previously the US relied on Syrian opposition forces, now Washington bets on certain militants groups and Kurdish units.
On Wednesday, Turkish Presidential Press Secretary Ibrahim Kalin said that Ankara remains concerned over the activities of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), despite Washington's statement that the YPG would not use US-supplied weapons against Turkey.
