The U.S. State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert on Thursday called the YPG in Afrin, Syria "the PKK", which is a terror group that has waged a more than 30-year war against the Turkish state.
"Turkey has taken its eye off the ball Daesh and is going after the PKK this time," Nauert said in a press conference without a correction, referring to Turkey's military operation to remove the PYD/PKK terrorists from Afrin.
Describing Northwestern Syria as "pretty stable", she claimed that the Turkish military operation would cause a "new disruption" in the region.
"People now have to flee an area that was pretty stable," Nauert said. "Think about, all this country [Syria] has been through and now we are looking at a new disruption in Northwestern Syria."
Recalling the phone conversation that was held between President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday, she added that Trump also urged Turkey to exercise caution and avoid "any actions" that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces.