GENEVA, Switzerland — The United Nations says it is “preparing for the worst” in northeast Syria after the United States said it would step aside to allow for Turkish military operations in the area.

“We don’t know what is going to happen. We are preparing for the worst,” the UN regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Panos Moumtzis, says in Geneva.

Turkey has threatened an offensive in Syria against Kurdish forces which it considers terrorists.

Moumtzis says there are “a lot of unanswered questions” about the consequences of the operation.

He adds that the UN is “in contact with all sides” on the ground.

But he makes clear his office did not have advance warning about the US decision, which effectively abandons the Kurds, Washington’s main allies in the long battle against the so-called Islamic State group.

Moumtzis says the UN’s priorities are to ensure that any prospective Turkish offensive not result in new displacements, that humanitarian access remain unhindered and that no restrictions be put in place on freedom of movement.

— AFP