SULAIMANI (ESTA) — ‘Hurriyet’ newspaper cited on Wednesday as saying Turkey would launch its new military incursion in northern Syria this week and the preparations are done.
In May Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) safe zone along the border.
The military operations that Turkey carries out are targeting the Kurdish groups in northern Syria and the positions that they hold.
Turkey claims that the People Protection Units (YPG) which holds a large scale of land in northern Syria is linked to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).
The (PKK) is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and the United States of America as well.
Meanwhile, the United States has partnered with Syrian Kurdish fighters to fight Islamic State (ISIS) in war-battered Syria However, Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters as a part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) considered “terrorists” by Ankara.
Earlier on Tuesday, Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar held a phone call conversation with his counterpart, Russian Federation Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, they discussed the latest Syria situation as well According to an official statement issued by Turkey’s Ministry of Defense.
The Turkish minister warned about Syria’s stability saying “the presence of terrorists in the region is unacceptable” it said.
Ankara has conducted three incursions into northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometers of land and pushing some 30 km deep into the country, in operations targeting mainly the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG forces.
Despite the concerns from the United States and the Syrian government about the possibility of Turkey’s new military operation in Syria, Turkish officials have warned that the country would launch the incursion soon.