Erdogan threatens new attack in northern Syria

Turkey will launch a new cross-border military operation into Syria if its national security is threatened by Daesh, Kurdish militants and political turmoil in Syria and Iraq.

“We will take all necessary measures accordingly. We are ready,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. “They should know that whatever we did during Operation Euphrates Shield, we are prepared to do the same again.

“Those who want to corner Turkey by using terror groups will be left alone with these ticking bombs.”

Turkish forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016 against Daesh and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia in northern Syria. The operation ended in March.

Turkey considers the YPG, the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a terrorist group, and views both organisations as the Syrian branch of the banned terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The YPG’s partnership with the United States in fighting Daesh is a fault line in the relationship between Ankara and Washington.

Erdogan also criticized the US government for supplying weapons to the YPG that ended up in the hands of Daesh or PKK militants, and could be used against Turkey in the future.

Metin Gurcan, a former military officer and security analyst at the Istanbul Policy Center, said coordination with Russia was the key to any Turkish cross-border military operation. Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said in June that Turkey and Russia may deploy troops to Idlib in Syria to monitor de-escalation zones and minimize possible clashes between the regime and opposition forces.

 

Read More: Euphrates Shield 2: Erdogan threatens new attack in northern Syria | RiyadhVision