Turkish forces ready for Syria ground operation: Officials
Howitzers fired daily from Turkey have struck Kurdish YPG targets for a week, while warplanes have carried out airstrikes. YPG has denied involvement in the bombing
Turkey’s army needs just a few days to be ready for a ground incursion into northern Syria and such a decision may come at a cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish officials said, as Turkish forces bombarded a Kurdish militia across the border.
Howitzers fired daily from Turkey have struck Kurdish YPG targets for a week, while warplanes have carried out airstrikes.
The escalation comes ater a deadly bomb atack in Istanbul two weeks ago that Ankara blamed on the YPG militia.
The YPG has denied involvement in the bombing and has responded at times to the cross-border atacks with mortar shelling.
“The Turkish Armed Forces needs just a few days to become almost fully ready,” one senior official said, adding that Turkey-allied Syrian rebel fighters were ready for such an operation just a few days ater the Nov.13 Istanbul bomb.
“It won’t take long for the operation to begin,” he said. “It depends only on the president giving the word.”
Turkey has previously launched military incursions in Syria against the YPG, regarding it as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States and European Union designate a terrorist group.
The PKK has also denied carrying out the Istanbul atack, in which six people were killed on a busy pedestrian avenue.
President Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey would launch a land operation when convenient to secure its southern border.
“All the preparations are complete. It’s now a political decision,” another Turkish official told Reuters, also requesting anonymity ahead of the meeting.
Erdogan said back in May that Turkey would soon launch a military operation against the YPG in Syria, but such an operation did not materialise at that time.
The first Turkish official said a ground operation, targeting the areas of Manbij, Kobani and Tel Rifat, was inevitable to link up the areas brought under the control of Turkey and its Syrian allies with incursions since 2016.
Ankara had been in contact with Moscow and Washington about its military activities, the person added.
The United States has told Nato member Turkey it has serious concerns that an escalation would affect the goal of fighting Daesh in Syria.
Russia asked Turkey to refrain from a fullscale ground offensive. It has supported Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in the country’s 11-year war, while Ankara has backed rebels fighting to topple him.
On Monday, the defence ministry said Turkey’s army had “neutralised” 14 YPG militants preparing to carry out atacks in Syrian areas under Turkey’s control.
It typically uses the term to describe casualties. The defence ministry said on Saturday three Turkish soldiers had been killed in northern Iraq, where the military has been conducting an operation against the PKK since April.
Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, having travelled to the Iraqi border area, was quoted as telling military commanders on Sunday that Turkey will “complete the tasks” of the mission.
The Turkish strikes come ater a Nov.13 bombing in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded 81.
Ankara blamed the atack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which it and its Western allies consider a terrorist group.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey alleges that Syrian Kurdish fighters are the PKK’S allies.
Kurdish groups denied any involvement in the Ankara blast.
Thousands of Kurds protested in the Syrian city of Qamishli against days of deadly Turkish cross-border strikes targeting Kurdish groups in the country’s northeast.
Turkey announced last Sunday it had carried out air strikes against semi-autonomous Kurdish zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across the border in Iraq. It has also threatened a ground offensive in those areas of Syria.
Demonstrators in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli, in Hasakeh province, brandished photos of people killed during recent strikes in the semi-autonomous region, an AFP correspondent said.
“Only the will of the Kurdish people remains,” said protester Siham Sleiman, 49.