Kurdish commander: Trump approved deal with Russia, Damascus

The US President Donald Trump did not oppose a deal struck between the Syrian Kurdish-led forces, Russia and the Syrian government in Damascus to protect against a Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, the commander of the force said as his fighters battled a new push by Ankara-backed fighters to seize a strategic border town.

The commander of the Kurdish-led forces, Mazloum Abdi, said Trump essentially gave the go-ahead for the deal in a phone call Monday.

The Kurds' deal, announced Sunday, came after Trump ordered US troops to step aside as Turkey launched its attack last week.

Under the agreement, forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad effectively replace the US troops on the ground in the border areas, with Moscow guaranteeing the deal.

"We told (Trump) that we are contacting the Syrian regime and the Russians in order to protect our country and land," Abdi, better known by his nom de guerre Mazloum Kobani, told a local TV station, Ronahi TV.

"He said, 'We are not against that. We support that.'"
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday once again called on Turkey to stop its military offensive in Syria, telling parliament that the offensive "makes tens of thousands, among them thousands of children, flee."