Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli affirmed that the Turkish military would cross into Syrian territory and attack U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in that country on Friday, a move that may trigger direct clashes between Turkey and the Bashar al-Assad regime.
While Turkish officials insist that any military action in Syria would only target the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ), the Assad regime warned on Thursday that it would shoot Turkish warplanes out of the sky if they violated Syria’s sovereignty.
Turkey considers the YPG and its all-female units, the YPJ, terrorist elements allied with the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The United States has relied heavily on the YPG to diminish what was once an overwhelming Islamic State presence in the region and considers it a separate entity from the designated terrorist group PKK.
The YPG and the official Syrian Army have largely avoided each other in the sprawling Syrian Civil War. The YPG has focused on attacking ISIS, while the Syrian Army has targeted Sunni Arab civilians.
“The threat level against Turkey is increasing day by day. This operation will be carried out and we will combat terrorism,” Canikli warned on Turkish television Friday, according to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. “The threat level against Turkey is increasing day by day. This operation will be carried out and we will combat terrorism.”
The operation on Syrian land “already started de facto,” Canikli admitted. READ MORE
