France risks becoming 'target'

Turkey has said that a French pledge to help stabilise a region of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a "target of Turkey".

French backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has angered Ankara at a time when it is fighting the YPG in northern Syria and considers it a terrorist organisation.

President Tayyip Erdogan said France had taken a "completely wrong approach" on Syria, adding that he exchanged heated words with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, last week.

The split with France is the latest rift between Turkey under Erdogan and its Nato allies in the West.

The White House said President Donald Trump, who added fresh uncertainty on Thursday when he said that the United States would be "coming out of Syria" very soon, spoke to Erdogan on Friday "to discuss regional developments and the strategic partnership between the United States and Turkey".

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the French stance was setting Paris on a collision course with Ankara.

"Those who enter into cooperation and solidarity with terror groups against Turkey ... will, like the terrorists, become a target of Turkey," Bozdag, who is also the Turkish government spokesman, wrote on Twitter. "We hope France does not take such an irrational step."

Macron met an SDF delegation on Thursday and gave assurances of French support to stabilise northern Syria. A presidential source later said France could increase its military contribution to the US-led coalition which - alongside the SDF - is fighting Islamic State in Syria.

Trump's remark on Thursday that the United States would be "coming out of Syria" appeared to take his own administration by surprise.

Two senior US administration officials on Friday said Trump has told advisers he wants an early exit of US troops from Syria.

A National Security Council meeting is set for early next week to discuss the US-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, according to US officials familiar with the plan.

Two other administration officials confirmed a Wall Street Journal report on Friday that said Trump had ordered the State Department to freeze more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria while his administration reassesses Washington's role in the conflict there.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon," Trump said on Thursday, based on allied victories against Islamic State militants.

"Let the other people take care of it now. Very soon, very soon, we're coming out," Trump said. "We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be."

Trump's comments came as France said on Friday it could increase its military presence in Syria to bolster the US-led campaign.