Turkey is preparing to launch a new military operation in northern Syria. Announced a few days ago by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, plans for cross-border infiltration were approved by the Security Council on Thursday, May 26, consisting of civilian and military leaders.
No date has been announced, but there is no doubt in the press release issued at the end of the meeting. “Existing and new measures are being taken to free our southern borders from the threat of terrorism. ⁇
The current operations are by the Turkish military Currently going to northern Iraq The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, Autonomous, banned in Turkey) has been fighting for forty years against Ankara. That ” bring it “ Held in northern Syria. They aim to expel the Syrian Kurdish militant OPG, but are backed by the United States. “Terrorists” By Turkey.
Three incursions into Syria since 2016
President Erdogan said, “Start and finish”I.e. extend “Safe Area”, 30 km deep, captured by the Turkish army and its Syrian paramilitaries during previous interventions (2016, 2018, 2019). It aims to control the remaining 458 km of land between the Afrin region captured by the Turks in 2018 and the Russian military air base in the eastern city of Kamisli.
At the center of the area is the town of Copane, which was recaptured by Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in 2014 after being besieged by the Islamic State (IS). Ten days ago, the Turkish Defense Ministry reported that a Turkish military post had come under mortar fire from Copani, which ordered retaliation after the death of a soldier.
By launching his army to attack territories controlled by Syrian Kurdish militants, Mr. Erdogan expects a fall. He wants to renew the nationalist sentiment of the electorate and at the same time regain his popularity a year after the scheduled presidential election in June 2023, a crucial deadline he did not approach.
Already used for electoral purposes in the past, military operations in northern Syria have been able to shed its light. The Turkish military has carried out three incursions into northern Syria since 2016, mainly against Kurdish militants affiliated with the United States.
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