WASHINGTON has refused to show the “yellow card” to Syrian extremists who massacred scores of civilians two weeks ago.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner faced tough questions at his daily press conference on Tuesday over the continued US support for Ahrar ash-Sham.

The militants killed 42 people and kidnapped about 60 in the village of Zara in southern Hama province on May 12, prompting Syria and its allies to express outrage.

“Is this a yellow card?” one journalist asked. “How many villages do they have to massacre before they become bad guys?”

While insisting he was “not going to get into soccer references,” Mr Toner admitted: “We’re not giving them a yellow card.”Ahrar ash-Sham is one of the two main guerilla forces in the Saudi-convened High Negotiations Committee (HNC), protected by the “cessation of hostilities” negotiated between Russia and the US.

“Ahrar ash-Sham is not a designated foreign terrorist organisation,” Mr Toner blustered.

“We agreed that this group would be a part of the HNC, with the expectation that they will not commit violations of the cessation and that they will not carry out brutal attacks.”

Moscow has demanded the group be put on a list of terrorist organisations over its repeated ceasefire breaches and attacks on civilians in alliance with the pariah Nusra Front — al-Qaida’s branch in Syria — but Washington has defended the group.

Mr Toner also indicated that the defeat of Islamic State (Isis) was not a greater priority than Washington’s goal of regime change.

He would not even acknowledge the Syrian government’s right to defend itself from terrorist attacks such as those carried out in cities in the west of the country on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — mainly comprising the Kurdish YPG militia — launched an offensive against the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold of Raqqa on Tuesday, with help from US army “advisers” and air raids.

The official Sana news agency reported yesterday that the SDF had captured three farms between the villages of al-Fatsa and al-Wasta after heavy fighting.

Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren claimed the SDF operation was aimed at “putting pressure on Raqqa” but not taking the city.

However, SDF commander Rojda Felat tweeted that the goal was to “liberate northern Raqqa.”