Turkey yesterday slammed as "unacceptable" a US announcement that Washington would supply arms and military equipment to Kurdish fighters battling IS jihadists in Syria. "The supply of arms to the YPG is unacceptable," deputy PM Nurettin Canikli told A Haber television. "Such a policy will benefit nobody."

"We expect that this mistake is to be rectified," he said, days ahead of a meeting in Washington between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US counterpart Donald Trump.