U.S. warns Turkey of 'consequences' over Syria assault

The United States warned Turkey at the United Nations that it faced “consequences” if its assault against Kurdish militias in northeast Syria did not protect vulnerable populations or contain ISIS (the terrorist group banned in Russia) militants.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft, speaking after a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Syria, did not specify what those consequences could be.

"Failure to play by the rules, to protect vulnerable populations, failure to guarantee that ISIS cannot exploit these actions to reconstitute, will have consequences," Reuters cited Craft as saying.

The 15-member Security Council met at the request of the five European nations: Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland. In a joint statement, the European states called on Turkey to stop its military action.

"Renewed armed hostilities in the northeast will further undermine the stability of the whole region, exacerbate civilian suffering and provoke further displacements," they said in a statement read to reporters by Germany’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Jurgen Schulz.