Turkey 'appalled' by US stance on IS withdrawal from Raqqa

ANKARA – Turkey on Tuesday said it was appalled by the approach of the US Department of Defense towards an agreement between the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and Islamic State to withdraw Islamic State militants from the Syrian city of Raqqa.

Last month, a YPG militia spokesman said that Syrian Islamic State fighters were set to abandon Raqqa in a withdrawal agreed with US-backed Syrian militias.

On Sunday, a report by the BBC said some 4,000 Islamic State militants, including hundreds of foreign nationals, had been evacuated from Raqqa as part of the agreement and spread across Syria and as far as Turkey.

"Seeing that statements from the spokespeople of the international coalition against Islamic State and the US Department of Defence have not denied the existence of the given agreement, but to the contrary said they 'respected' it is appalling," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.