Turkey has deployed “hundreds” of men in northern Syria to launch an offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces, Bloomberg reported, citing official sources.
Earlier, the Syrian agency SANA, citing its own informed sources, reported that the Turkish military had transferred a convoy to the Idlib province in northern Syria, which included more than 200 trucks with ammunition, weapons and special equipment.
“The planned offensive should close more than two-thirds of Turkey’s 910-kilometer border with Syria,” the agency’s website said, citing knowledgeable officials who wished to remain anonymous.
It is noted that Ankara intends to seize areas in the south of the city of Kobani in order to unite the territories under its control to the west and east of the Euphrates River.
According to sources, another potential target of the Turkish authorities may be the Menag airfield, over which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Syrian Kurdish Self-Defense Forces, banned in Turkey, have established power.
Ankara’s move could also help President Tayyip Erdogan build domestic support and put pressure on the US and Russia to “pacify” Kurdish forces, Bloomberg said.
In 2016-2019, the Turkish army conducted three operations in the north of Syria – “Shield of the Euphrates” against militants of the terrorist group IS *, “Olive Branch” and “Source of Peace” against Kurdish formations. The presence of Turkish forces on the border territory of Syria, which are conducting operations there against Kurdish formations, Damascus has repeatedly called illegal and called on Ankara to withdraw its troops.
* – Terrorist organizations banned in Russia.