He said he thought Pence and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would have a successful meeting, but warned of sanctions and tariffs that “will be devastating to Turkey’s economy” otherwise. A top aide to Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, said Turkey’s foreign ministry was preparing to retaliate for the sanctions by its NATO ally. Assad vowed that Syria would respond to the Turkish offensive on any part of its territory with “all legitimate means” available, Syrian state media said on Thursday. Turkish offensive had killed 218 civilians, including 18 children since it started a week ago. Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, has called the offensive “unacceptable” and said it must be limited in time and scale.

Source: bd News24 October 17, 2019 14:03 UTC