ANKARA – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will “clean” its entireborder with Syria as Ankara continues its operation against the Kurdishmilitants supported by the United States in the Arab country.
Erdogan said in a speech on Sunday that the operation against the KurdishPeople’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria’s Afrin region could beextended.
“Step by step, we will clean our entire border.”
The Turkish army said it had captured Jebel Bursaya, a hill that Turkishmedia had described as a critical position.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Turkey and itsallies had taken the hill, which overlooks the major Syrian town of Azaz.The observatory said Turkish airstrikes had claimed the lives of at leastthree people in one family on Sunday in Afrin. An ancient temple was alsodamaged.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is an alliance of militias innorthern and eastern Syria and largely dominated by the YPG, had saidearlier on Sunday that there was intense fighting in the area. Washingtonsupports the SDF.
Syrian Kurdish officials have pledged to give an “appropriate response” toany more Turkish assaults.
More than a week into the offensive, however, Turkey and its allies havemade little progress.The photo shows a Turkish-made T-155 Firtina (Storm) howitzer near Hatay,southern Turkey, on January 28, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Last week, the Turkish president said his administration might conductoperations eastward inside Syria all the way to Iraq to rid its frontier ofthe YPG.
Since Turkey’s assault in Afrin began nine days ago, it has sparkedtension between Ankara and Washington.
The Turkish Presidency said in a statement on Saturday that the UnitedStates had promised for a second time to stop arming the Syria-basedKurdish militants, whom Ankara considers a threat to Turkish security.link>
Turkey has warned Washington that there could be a confrontation betweenTurkish and American troops in northern Syria if the arms transfer to theKurds was not stopped.
Operation Olive Branch in Afrin is Turkey’s second major militaryintervention in Syria since 2011.The photo, taken on January 28, 2018, shows smoke rising on the Syrian sideof the border from Hassa, near Hatay, southern Turkey. (Photo by AFP)
In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral campaign in northern Syria,code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes acrossthe border. Ankara claimed that its move was aimed at pushing the DaeshTakfiri terrorists from Turkey’s border with Syria and stopping the advanceof Kurdish forces, themselves fighting Daesh.
Turkey ended its campaign in northern Syria in March 2017, but at the timedid not rule out the possibility of yet another act of military offensiveinside the Arab country.