Ankara, Oct 8: Turkey has on Monday conducted an airstrike attack on a military installation of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), downing two bridges in the northeast Syrian province of Hasakah. However, there were no reports of casualties but found a mass military buildup at the Syrian border.
In a tweeter post, the Turkish defence ministry reported they had completed all the preparations for launching its offensive operation in Syria. The ministry noted the establishment of the US proposed “safe-zone” in northeast Syria remain essential to contribute to the “stability and peace of our region”, as well as, for Syrians.
The ministry further tweeted: “The TAF will never tolerate the creation of a terror corridor at our borders. All preparations for the operation have been completed.”
Bölgemizin istikrar ve huzuruna katkı sağlayarak Suriyelilerin güvenli bir yaşama kavuşabilmesi için Güvenli Bölge/Barış koridoru kurulması zaruridir. TSK, sınırlarımızda terör koridoru oluşturulmasına asla müsamaha göstermeyecektir. Harekât için tüm hazırlıklar tamamlanmıştır. pic.twitter.com/2tKfNUwnvf
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) October 7, 2019
Late on Monday, Turkey struck Samalka Syrian-Iraqi checkpoint with airstrikes, supposedly destroying two bridges. The strike aimed at Samalka checkpoint, which is controlled by SDF.
On Saturday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced Ankara would launch an offensive mission in Syria (dubbed ‘Operation Peace Fountain’) in the coming days, as per Washington Post.
SDF said on Monday American armed forces have withdrawn from the northeast Syria borders region along Turkey, as they failed to fulfil their obligations under the reached agreement.
The United States-backed Kurdish forces, which has seized much of the northeast region, said in a statement: “The American forces did not fulfill their commitments and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey, and Turkey is now preparing for an invasion operation of northern and eastern Syria.”
Turkey has, for a considerable length of time, been squeezing to set up a 30-40km profound zone inside Syria, looking for the removal of the YPG from the zone and the decimation of their passages and fortresses.
Trump has proposed the safe zone plan to Erdogan last year and has announced procedures to withdraw American special armed forces from northeast Syria, but later halted the plans in order to ensure US’ Kurdish allies were safe.
The US and Turkey have been at loggerheads over plans for the region, where the US-backed Kurdish YPG fighters, forming a main American force, are combating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL and ISIS).
The Syrian government has called the deal between Turkey and the US a “blatant attack” on the nation’s power and sovereignty.