NATO defence ministers Thursday slammed Turkey for its military operation in Syria conducted with Russia's help, but recognised there was little they could do to sanction their strategically important ally.

The first day of a two-day meeting of the ministers in Brussels was dominated by the issue, with Turkey isolated among the 29 member states because of its incursion against Kurdish fighters it considers "terrorists" but who are key in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described discussions as "frank and open" -- euphemisms for sharp discord -- and noted "we have seen disagreements before" but the transatlantic alliance has endured.

He stressed that the ministers agreed on the need to "maintain our unity in the fight against ISIS," referring to the IS group being fought in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere by a broad international coalition including many NATO members.

Germany presented an idea it floated this week of international troops being deployed to create a security zone in northeast Syria -- a notion that has been met tepidly by allies because of the situation on the ground and the need for a UN mandate.

The top commander of Syria's Kurdish force, Mazloum Abdi, welcomed the proposal, telling journalists in northern Syria that "we demand and agree to this".

- 'Terrible situation' -

But the NATO ministers did not directly embrace the German plan. Stoltenberg said they instead stressed their "broad support... for ways to engage the international community to find a political situation" in northern Syria.

Before the meeting, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she and her French and British counterparts believed a Turkish-Russian agreement to jointly patrol a "safe zone" inside northern Syria "does not provide a permanent basis for a political solution".

Belgium's defence minister, Didier Reynders, said of Germany's troops idea: "In principle we are in favour of such an agreement to work together -- but then again, the situation is totally different now" following the Turkey-Russia agreement.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, speaking at a think tank conference in Brussels before the NATO meeting, was blunt about Turkey, saying it was "heading in the wrong direction".

"Turkey put us all in a very terrible situation and I think the incursion's unwarranted," Esper said.

He defended the withdrawal of "less than 50" US troops from northern Syria that cleared a path for the Turkish operation, arguing it was the only way to preserve the soldiers' lives, and that in any case he was not "about to start a fight with a NATO ally".

- Trump's eyes on Syria's 'Oil Region!' -

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday summed up American strategy in Syria by saying: "Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand."

However on Thursday, he tweeted: "I appreciate what the Kurds have done. Perhaps it is time for the Kurds to start heading to the Oil Region!"

That referred to a non-Kurdish, crude-rich desert zone in Syria's northeast under US control that Trump wants to prevent falling into the hands of the Syrian regime or its Iranian or Russian partners.

Turkey's actions, its rapprochement to Russia and its threat to its European allies in NATO to unleash a wave of refugees if they dared criticise the assault in Syria have unnerved many in the transatlantic alliance.

"When we say we will open the gates, they are up in arms. Don't be up in arms, the gates will be opened when the time comes," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara.

Turkey 'heading in wrong direction' over Syria: US
Brussels (AFP) Oct 24, 2019 - Turkey is "heading in the wrong direction" with its incursion into Syria and its deal with Russia to jointly patrol a "safe zone" there, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned Thursday.

"Turkey put us all in a very terrible situation" by sweeping into northern Syria this month to fight Kurdish militia allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State group, Esper told a conference in Brussels ahead of a NATO defence ministers' meeting.

"I think the incursion's unwarranted," Esper said.

The onus was on Turkey's NATO allies to now "work together to strengthen our partnership with them, and get them on the trend back to being the strong reliable ally of the past," he said.

The issue of Turkey's military offensive in Syria is set to dominate the two-day NATO meeting, with diplomats in the organisation saying "frank" discussions with Ankara's representatives have already taken place.

A subsequent arrangement with Russia to clear Kurdish militia that Turkey regards as "terrorists" linked to the outlawed PKK group on its soil has also raised hackles.

Yet, while isolated in NATO, Turkey's strategic position between Europe and the Middle East is seen as too important to jeopardise, so the other alliance members have limited themselves to criticism only.

Esper defended the US decision to pull US forces out of northern Syria, effectively opening the path to the Turkish operation.

"The US decision to withdraw less than 50 soldiers from the zone of attack was made after it was made very clear to us that President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan made the decision to come across the border," he said.

He added that "I was not about to put less than 50 US soldiers in between a 15,000-man-plus Turkish army preceded by Turkish militia and jeopoardise the lives of those servicemen". Nor was he "about to start a fight with a NATO ally," he said.

Esper acknowledged "there has been some criticism" about the US withdrawal "but nobody's yet offered a better alternative to what the United States did. We are trying to keep a very strategic perspective."

In his speech and question-and-answer session at the event hosted by the German Marshall Fund think tank, Esper highlighted threats he said were posed by Iran, Russia and, especially and above all, China.

"NATO allies should be looking east," to China, he said, stating that Beijing's "heavy hand" was being seen politically, militarily and economically not only in Asia but further abroad, including into Europe with its "belt-and-road" project.

Adoption by NATO allies of China's Huawei company to build 5G telecoms networks would be a threat to intel-sharing within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, he said.

"I'll counsel our allies -- if Huawei becomes your provider of choice, this will affect our ability to share intelligence. We can't trust those networks," he said, adding: "We need to address those threats with eyes wide open."

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