Turkey rages at US over Syria border force

TURKEY yesterday warned the US it was “playing with fire” over plans to set up a 30,000-strong force to police its border with Syria, saying it had tanks ready at the frontier.

The US announced plans on Sunday for a “border security force” – made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters – to prevent a resurgence by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). It will be tasked with securing Syria’s northern border with Turkey and its eastern border with Iraq in areas that are under the fighters’ control.

Ankara has repeatedly warned Washington over its support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Defence Units (YPG), which it sees as a terrorist group.

Yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, could barely contain his rage. “A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our borders,” he said in a speech in Ankara. “What can that terror army target but Turkey? Our mission is to strangle it before it’s even born. Don’t stand between us and this herd of murderers. Otherwise, we won’t be responsible for the unwanted incidents that may arise.” n Haider al-abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, has called for the elimination of jihadist “sleeper cells” after a twin suicide bombing killed at least 31 people in Baghdad.