James Jeffrey, the Special Representative of the United States in Syria, spoke at a session titled "The quest for a solution in Syria: the strategy of the Trump administration" held in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives.

"We have never talked about withdrawing our air forces from Syria, we are trying to play a conciliatory role, convincing (YPG/PKK) and Turkey not to escalate, and establishing a buffer zone that we have not yet defined, and will be controlled by the local forces," James Jeffrey told the US Congress.

"Washington does not believe in a solution that Assad continues to kill his people. After all the Russian aid, only 60 percent of Syria has recovered, and nearly half of his people are still refugees or 11 million Syrians who have fled their country," he added.

In response to a question asked by a lawmaker about the YPG/PKK about the US withdrawal, Jeffrey said that the announcement of the withdrawal was wrongly understood: "Since February things have changed and we will keep some of our forces, but if we look at the declaration of withdrawal from the beginning, we must say that we have not lost our credibility and that we are in a good position with our allies in SDF [YPG/PKK]."

"We never talked about withdrawing our air forces from Syria. We never said we would withdraw the air force protecting the northeast. President Trump when he visited Iraq suddenly said we will continue to use regional forces to maintain stability in the relationship with the Kurds," Jeffrey said.

"We are trying to play a compromising role and convince Turkey and SDF not to escalate," said Jeffrey. "We take into account the Turks' concern, but we will also safeguard the security of our allies."

"We are trying to establish a buffer zone that we have not yet defined, but the local forces will be in charge of it. Turkey will have control points and America will have a role," Jeffrey said.

Jeffrey said Pompeo had a "fruitful" meeting with Putin and positions on Syria were "closer than ever."

"We are cooperating with the entire international community to continue applying pressure on the Assad regime," he said.

ILKHA