ANKARA: A planned Turkish incursion into northeast Syria has not begun, but final preparations are being made and the deployment of troops and equipment has been completed, Turkish officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
Turkish soldiers with heavy equipment have removed a concrete section of the border wall, one of the officials said after media reports said that Turkish troops were crossing into Syria
Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish military, together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Syrian border “shortly,” President Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director said.
In a tweet, Fahrettin Altun said that Kurdish militants there could either defect or Ankara would have to “stop them from disrupting” Turkey’s struggle against the Daesh militants.
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On Tuesday, Turkey's military struck the Syrian-Iraqi border to prevent Kurdish forces using the route to reinforce northeast Syria, Turkish officials told Reuters.
