ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Turkey will rid northern Syria’s Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas of terrorists, confirming the targets of the new incursion for the first time and saying it will continue into other regions.
His comments, in a speech to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, came a week after he pledged a new military incursion on Turkey’s southern border against the US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which Ankara views as a terrorist group.
“We are going into the new phase of our determination to form a 30 km deep safe zone along our southern border. We will clear Tal Rifaat and Manbij of terrorists, and we will do the same to other regions step-by-step,” he said.
“Let’s see who supports these legitimate steps by Turkey and who hinders them,” Erdogan added.
Ankara has carried out four operations in northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometers of land and pushing some 30 km deep into the country, mainly targeting the YPG.
While backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, Turkey has coordinated with Russia on its military operations.
Turkey’s cross-border operations have been criticized by its NATO allies, notably the US and some have imposed a series of arms embargoes on Ankara. Washington expressed concern at any new offensive in northern Syria, saying it would put US troops at risk and undermine regional stability.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday repeated the Biden administration’s opposition to the move.
“Any escalation there in northern Syria is something that we would oppose, and we support the maintenance of the current cease-fire lines,” Blinken told a news conference.
“We continue effectively to take the fight through partners to Daesh, within Syria, and we don’t want to see anything that jeopardizes the efforts that are made to continue to keep Daesh in the box that we put it in,” he added.
Ankara’s announcement of a new offensive in Syria coincides with its objections to Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids on the grounds that they back Kurdish militants and groups Turkey deems terrorists, and because of arms embargoes imposed by over a 2019 Turkish offensive into northern Syria.
