*Istanbul: *

Turkey launched an assault on Kurdish positions in northern Syria onWednesday with air strikes and explosions reported near the border.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the attack onTwitter, labelling it “Operation Peace Spring”.

Moments later, a cloud of white smoke rose over the Ras al-Ain border area,an AFP correspondent said, adding that warplanes could be seen flyingoverhead.

“Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across oursouthern border, and to bring peace to the area,” Erdogan wrote, addingthat the operation would target Kurdish terrorists and the Islamic Stategroup (IS).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor,reported that Turkish air strikes had hit the Ras al-Ain area.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported shelling of Kurdish terroristpositions in the border town of Tal Abyad.

Syria’s Kurds called up civilians on Wednesday to defend against theassault, while President Donald Trump insisted the United States had notabandoned its Kurdish allies who were a crucial ally against IS.Advertisement

Trump was widely seen as giving a green light at the weekend, ordering thepullback of US troops from the Turkey-Syrian border which had served as abuffer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Erdogan to “think carefully” beforeany offensive in a phone call.Advertisement

But Ankara says the assault is necessary to curb the power of theKurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) due to their ties with Kurdishinsurgents inside Turkey.

Turkey also wants a “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border where itcould send back some of the 3.6 million refugees it hosts from theeight-year civil war.Advertisement

* ‘General mobilisation’ *

Kurds have been girding for combat as Turkey sent a large convoy of troopsand vehicles to the border area overnight.

“We announce three days of general mobilisation in northern and easternSyria,” Kurdish authorities in northern Syria said, urging all civilians to”head to the border with Turkey… to resist during this delicatehistorical moment”.

They said they would hold their erstwhile US ally and the wholeinternational community responsible for any “humanitarian catastrophe” thatunfolds.

The Kurds say Ankara’s real goal is to dilute their demographic dominanceof the northeast with an influx of mostly Sunni Arab refugees from otherparts of the country now living in southwestern Turkey.

In Ras al-Ain, Kurdish-led security forces set up new checkpoints andstockpiled tyres to set alight to blur the vision of Turkish militarypilots, an AFP correspondent reported.

Ras al-Ain was one of the places from which US troops withdrew on Monday.

Kurdish authorities in the town called for protesters to gather at theborder later on Wednesday and hoisted flags on tents.

“We will not leave this land,” said Kawa Sleem, a 32-year-old Ras al-Ainresident.

“War has been chasing us for years, and everyday Erdogan threatens us witha new attack,” he added, pledging to defend the area with “all meansavailable.”

Ras al-Ain is one of the first areas on which Ankara’s planned offensive isexpected to focus. Like Tal Abyad, further west, its population is mainlyArab.

Kurdish forces have dug trenches and tunnels in both areas, coveringstreets with metal canopies to block the cameras of Turkish drones. -APP/AFP