Trump urges Erdogan to 'de-escalate' Syria fighting

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to limit his forces' assault against a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, the White House said.

In a telephone call, Trump called on Erdogan to "de-escalate" the attack on Afrin and expressed concern about "the destructive and false" anti-American rhetoric emanating from Turkey.

Over the weekend Turkish forces backed by local Syrian Arab fighters launched an incursion into Afrin, a border canton administered by a local Kurdish-led council and defended by the YPG militia.

United States forces work with and support the YPG in the east of Syria, where Kurdish fighters form the backbone of the local force that drove the Islamic State group out of its "capital" Raqa.