US Has No Plans to Commit Troops in Syria’s Idlib - National Security Advisor

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is not going to commit troops to defuse tensions in Syria's northwestern Idlib province despite appeals to do so, US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien said at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday.

"That's a very difficult situation. Some folks suggested that we stop the fighting, but we are not going to drop the 101st [Airborne Division] in the middle of Russian, Syrian, Iranian, al-Qaida, Turkish... Syrian defense forces," O'Brien said. "That's not something we are going to commit American troops to at this point."

Instead, O’Brien promised the United States will continue supporting Turkey on the humanitarian front "with the refugee crisis they are facing."

O'Brien noted that the United States was militarily present in Syria's eastern and southern regions in support of the Kurds and neighbouring Israel and Jordan.

"We are feeling like we are doing a lot in Syria," O’Brien said.

O'Brien suggested that the recent escalation of fighting in Idlib had taught Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that relying on Russia as a partner and ally may not always be the best idea especially in the place like Syria.