Turkey has lashed out at the United States after images emerged appearing to show U.S. soldiers operating with Kurdish fighters near the front line of an offensive in northern Syria.

In some pictures, soldiers identified as U.S. special forces are seen wearing the patch of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, which are fighting against the Islamic State (IS) group.

"It is unacceptable that U.S. soldiers wear the emblem of a terrorist organization," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on May 27.

The U.S. military has not commented directly on the images, but says it has some 300 troops in Syria to train and assist rebels in a non-combat role.

The images emerged after Kurdish and Arab fighters launched a military campaign to drive IS militants back from territory north of their stronghold of Raqqa.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and the BBC

