U.S. officials say there's no evidence to back up claims about Syrian rebels and Turkish F-16's involvement in Karabakh

Two U.S. officials covering South Caucasus on Thursday told TURAN's Washington correspondent that they have "no information or intelligence" to back up allegations about Turkey's alleged deployment of Syrian rebels In Nagorno-Karabakh contradicting Russian Foreign Ministry, which has pushed false narrative on Wednesday claiming that "militants of illegal armed forces, in particular from Syria, Libya, are transferred to the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in order to directly participate in the hostilities."

Separately, a senior State Department official on Wednesday refrained from commenting on Armenian Foreign Ministry's claims that Turkish F-16 shot down an Armenian warplane.

"I just don't have anything on that.  I don't have any facts to back that up or anything else at this point," the diplomat said, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Following Secretary Pompeo's visit to Greece early this week, a senior State Department official will go to Istanbul and Ankara, "just for two days to meet with Turkish counterparts" to discuss regional issues, including Karabakh conflict, "Turkey has interest in that region and involvement as well," the official added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.