Rome, Turkey’s week-old military offensive in northeast Syria is unacceptable and must be halted, Italy’s Premier Giuseppe Conte told the Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, sources said.
Conte made the remarks during an hour-long phone call with Erdogan which was “extremely tense at times,” according to sources in Conte’s office.
Conte reiterated Italy’s request that the Turkey stop its military incursion in the border area with Syria, which has created new humanitarian crisis. At least 160,000 civilians have fled their homes and there are security fear over thousands of Islamic State jihadists abandoned in Kurdish jails.