On Aug. 24 morning, the Turkish Air Force, with the support of the coalition aircraft, launched an operation to liberate the city of Jarabulus from the “Islamic State” (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL) terrorist group in northern Syria, near Aleppo. On Monday he accused Washington of exacerbating tension in the region, referring to an incident last week when a small number of USA forces entered the town of al-Rai but were forced to withdraw after the Free Syrian Army rebels protested against their presence.
Advertisement
Turkey is expanding its military role in the conflict as the cease-fire in Syria is in a precarious state. “This area is pushing south”, Erdogan continued.
“Erdogan noted that now, Turkish troops stationed in Syria are moving to the south as part of the ‘Shield of the Euphrates” operation.
The Turkish president was referring to a small number of United States special forces who had entered Al-Rai to help coordinate airstrike against IS. After Moscow intervened militarily a year ago on behalf of the Syrian government, Erdogan was forced to soften his hard line against President Bashar Assad’s involvement in postwar politics. “We will go there and stop (DAESH) from being a threat to us”, he said.
He criticized Syrian Kurdish fighters for not retreating from Manbij after taking it from Islamic State, signaling that Turkey might force them to withdraw.
The Turkish leader said his country’s offensive inside Syria has already cleared “terrorist groups” from an area of about 900 square kilometers.
Gaining control of al-Bab, which lies on the southern edge of what Ankara sees as its potential buffer zone, is crucial to Turkey’s plans to keep the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in check, analysts say.
It involved Syrian Arabs and Turkmen joining forces and, backed by Turkish soldiers and tanks, they recaptured Jarablus within a day.
“We have been planning to build houses and social facilities in a safe zone in northern Syria”, Erdogan said. About 120,000 refugees are already living in camps run by Turkey’s pro-Islamic Humanitarian Aid Foundation, or IHH, just inside the Syrian border. “But I hope we can do so from now on”.
Advertisement
And Erdogan is envisioning an even bigger safe zone of 3,100 square miles.
