TURKISH MILITARY TO ENTER SYRIA
ANKARA SAYS IT INTENDS TO CREATE A ‘SAFE ZONE’ TO RETURN REFUGEES
ANKARA: Turkey has begun its military offensive into northeastern Syria to force back Kurdish militants controlling the border area, days after President Donald Trump said the US wouldn’t stand in the way. The operation Syria has been launched with air strikes and will be supported by artillery and howitzer fire, a Turkish security source told Reuters. “The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army (rebel groups backed by Ankara), just launched #OperationPeaceSpring,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote on Twitter in English. He said the offensive targeted Kurdish militants and the Islamic State group in northern Syria.“Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area,” he wrote. Turkey has long been planning military action against Kurdish forces in northern Syria due to their ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. A small forward group of Turkish forces first entered Syria early Wednesday at two points along the frontier, close to the Syrian towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, according to a Turkish official. Kurdish-led forces were on high alert and called on fighters to head for the frontier to defend the region against the Turkish offensive that is expected to involve tens of thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers from NATO’s second-largest army. Turkey’s advance follows a dramatic reversal of US policy. President Donald Trump told Erdogan in a phone call on Sunday that dozens of American troops who’d been working closely with Kurdish forces in the fight against Islamic State would pull back, effectively clearing the way for a Turkish incursion.
The White House statement appeared to surprise allies at home and abroad. The Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces said they would defend their “own people,” potentially relegating the battle against Islamic State.
The Kurdish YPG militia that forms the backbone of the SDF has been one of America’s closest partners in the fight against Islamic State and is holding thousands of jihadist fighters and their families in camps and detention centres in northeastern Syria. Trump said Turkey would become responsible for the detainees, who include foreign fighters from Europe.
Trump drew criticism at home for his decision to hand responsibility for the jihadist prisoners to Turkey over concerns that chaos in northeastern Syria could allow Islamic State members to escape and regroup. “Moved our 50 soldiers out,” Trump said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. “Turkey MUST take over captured ISIS fighters that Europe refused to have returned. The stupid endless wars, for us, are ending!”
Later on Wednesday, Trump warned Turkey that the assault was “a bad idea” not backed by the US, and called on it to protect religious minorities.
“The United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.