Turkish president says U.S. special forces being removed from northern Syria

Turkey has made some U.S. special operations forces leave northern Syria as the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) does not want American interference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

"The Free Syrian Army does not want interference from the U.S., because the behavior of U.S. officials heightened the problem to that level," the president told the press in Istanbul prior to his departure for New York for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

"Our officials, our special forces have taken out around 27 U.S. special forces from the area," he added.

Washington announced last Friday the deployment of some three dozen special operations forces in northern Syria to work with Turkish troops in fighting the Islamic State (IS).

Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and special operations forces into northern Syria on Aug. 24 in a launch of what it called Operation Euphrates Shield to fight both the IS and Syrian Kurdish militias.

The operation that offers support to the FSA on the ground is progressing well as of now, the president said.

Erdogan said that an area of 5,000 sq. km in northern Syria should be "appraised as security zone" so that more Syrian refugees could return to their hometown without fear of terror.

"Up to now 900 square kilometers of area have been cleared of terror elements as part of Turkey's operation," he said.

"We are heading toward further south," the Turkish leader added. "More Syrians will return when more areas are cleared of terror elements."

Turkey is sheltering some 3 million Syrian refugees on its soil. Endit