U.S. top general in Turkey for talks

U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford on Sunday arrived in Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The visit came as the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the United States, said they had launched an operation to liberate Syria's northern city of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group.

Turkey is concerned over a growing Kurdish influence near its borders, which was a main point of contention between Washington and Ankara.

The U.S. top commander met with Turkey's Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.

No further details were given about the talks between Akar and Dunford.

Last week, Akar met in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov, an earlier statement by the Turkish General Staff said.

They discussed means to reach a solution on the conflict in Syria, normalize the situation in the besieged city of Aleppo and increase coordination between the two countries in order to bring back security to the region, it added. Endit