State Department Spokeswoman, Heather Nauert said on Thursday, February 22, the U.S. does not have a “whole lot of visibility in terms of" what is happening in Afrin as the country is not operating there.

The United States continues to have conversations with the Turkish government regarding the Afrin operation, Nauert added.

“What is going on in Afrin is taking away from the fight against IS [Islamic State]. It is a distraction … It is certainly not helpful to have people take their eye off the ball of IS,” she said.

The state department’s spokeswoman further said that part of the U.S.-backed forces in the east is starting to move to Afrin because “they have familial relations, familial ties there”.

“… The more participants that get involved in that region, the far more complicated this entire situation becomes, the further we get from being able to solve this crisis and to solve the situation there.”

Last month Ankara launched a cross-border air and ground offensive backing Syrian rebels against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin.

Reporter’s code: 50101