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QAMISHLI, Syria — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Wednesday to order a land invasion of northern Syria focusing on Kurdish teams, amid yearslong border violence and repeated Turkish incursions.
Turkey has launched a barrage of airstrikes on suspected militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in current days, in retaliation for a lethal Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish teams. The teams have denied involvement within the bombing, and say Turkish strikes have killed civilians and threatened the battle in opposition to the Islamic State group.
Ankara’s allies, significantly Russia, have tried to avert a floor incursion, however Erdogan mentioned Wednesday in a speech to his ruling celebration’s legislators in Ankara that the air operations are “just the start” and that Turkey is set to “shut down all of our southern borders … with a safety strip that can forestall the opportunity of assaults on our nation.”
Turkey has carried out a collection of incursions into Syria since 2016 and already controls components of northern Syria. Erdogan mentioned the brand new army offensive, deliberate to happen “on the most handy time for us” would goal the areas of Tel Rifaat, Manbij and Kobani, which can be recognized by its Arabic title Ayn Al Arab.
“The day is close to when these concrete tunnels which the terrorists use for security will turn into their graves,” he mentioned.
The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria, in the meantime, mentioned his group is ready to repel a floor invasion by Turkey.
SDF head Mazloum Abdi instructed the The Related Press that his group has been making ready for one more such assault since Turkey launched a floor offensive within the space in 2019 and “we consider that now we have reached a degree the place we will foil any new assault. At the least the Turks won’t be able to occupy extra of our areas and there might be a terrific battle.”
He added, “If Turkey assaults any area, the conflict will unfold to all areas … and everybody might be harm by that.”
Following the weekend’s airstrikes, Turkish officers mentioned that suspected Kurdish militants fired rockets Monday throughout the Syrian border into Turkey, killing not less than two individuals and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.
Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev mentioned that Turkey ought to “present a sure restraint” with a view to forestall an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it is going to be potential to persuade our Turkish companions to chorus from extreme use of drive on Syrian territory.”
Mazloum referred to as on Moscow and Damascus, in addition to on the U.S.-led coalition preventing in opposition to the Islamic State group in Syria, with which allied with Kurdish fighters within the space, to take a stronger stance to forestall a Turkish floor invasion, warning that such an motion may hurt makes an attempt to fight a resurgence of IS.
“We are able to say that our work in opposition to IS with the worldwide coalition has stopped, as a result of we’re preoccupied with the Turkish assaults,” he mentioned. “Our coordination and work with the Russians on the bottom has additionally been affected by the Turkish assaults.”
Late Wednesday, Turkish airstrikes additionally hit close to the al-Hol camp in Hassakeh province the place tens of hundreds of wives, widows, and youngsters of Islamic State group militants are held. SDF forces and a camp official mentioned the strikes appeared to focus on safety forces in control of retaining the crime-ridden camp safe.
Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced individuals in northeast Syria, mentioned that some detainees tried to flee.
“The safety forces at the moment have Al-Hol camp beneath management, however that would change if these assaults continued and the detainees may disperse within the space,” Ahmad instructed the AP. “This is able to additionally threaten worldwide safety, not simply our personal.”
A U.S. Central Command spokesperson mentioned that one of many Turkish strikes on Tuesday had hit inside 300 meters of US personnel, including, “These strikes proceed to place U.S. forces in danger.” He declined to say the place the positioning that had been struck was.
The Turkish airstrikes, which have killed plenty of Syrian military troopers working in the identical space because the SDF forces, have additionally threatened to upset a nascent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara. The 2 have been on opposing sides in Syria’s civil conflict however in current months have launched low-level talks.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Analysis Program on the Washington Institute for Close to East Coverage mentioned that the occasions unfolding “will in all probability culminate in a Turkish incursion into Syria,” however maybe not instantly.
“I believe Ankara is aligning the 2 stars required for an incursion into Syria, the celebs being the American star and the Russian star,” Cagaptay mentioned, noting that Washington and its allies want Turkey’s help to present NATO membership to Finland and Sweden, whereas Russia is angling for a deal between Ankara and Damascus that would “wrap up the conflict” in Syria.
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Related Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria contributed to this report. Sewell reported from Beirut.
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