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A top aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted Wednesday that U.S. commandos in northern Syria could be targeted by Turkish rockets if they continue to work with Kurdish fighters along the border with Turkey.

The comments by Ilnur Cevik, a senior political adviser to Erdogan, came the same day Erdogan sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss plans for "safe zones" meant to stop the violence in Syria. And they come two weeks before Erdogan visits Washington for his first meeting with President Donald Trump.

If the Kurds and Americans continue to work together, Cevik said during a radio interview, "We won't be considering the fact that there are armored American vehicles . . . All of a sudden, by accident, a few rockets can hit them."

The veiled threats from a NATO ally to potentially use force against U.S. troops highlight just how risky and complicated U.S. intervention in the Syria's civil war has become.

For weeks, U.S. Army Special Forces troops have been a visible presence in Kurdish areas of northern Syria, first showing up in the town of Manbij which was being threatened by Turkish-backed Syrian Arab fighters. Over the weekend, U.S. troops were again photographed driving through the town of Qamishli, near the site of last week's Turkish airstrikes, which killed 18 U.S.-backed Kurdish militias.

The U.S. show of force is a very public reminder of American support for the Kurds, who make up a majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a 50,000-strong collection of local militias moving on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. U.S. military commanders say the Kurds are the only viable military option to defeat ISIS on the ground in Syria.

Ankara is deeply uneasy over the continued U.S. relationship with Kurdish YPG in northern Syria, who the Turks consider to be terrorists. Further muddying the picture, Russia has also moved some forces into northern Syria and have forged some local agreements with the Kurds, which has also alarmed the Turkish government.

Following his meeting with Erdogan at the Russian report town of Sochi on Wednesday, Putin pressed his ambitions for Syria further, calling for the creation of "safe zones."

Four specific areas in the western part of the country would become "no-fly" zones, Putin said, except for operations against the Islamic State or al-Qaida-related groups. That proposal went nowhere at peace talks in Kazakhstan between the moderate Syrian opposition, the Syrian regime, Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Representatives of the Syrian opposition walked out of the talks Wednesday over continued Syrian government bombing of hospitals and civilian targets, and the role Iran is playing in the Syrian civil war.

"Iran is an aggressor state, and enemy of the Syrian people. It is part of the problem and we do not accept any role in the present and future of Syria as a guarantor or sponsor," a statement from the opposition read.