Wednesday, 17 January 2018

Syria war Turkish forces

*Syria war: Turkish forces mass 👀 near Kurdish areas*

Turkey's president has warned of imminent military offensives on two Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, as tanks and troops mass on the border.

"Turkey is aware about the fact that entering Afrin will not be easy because it was the people of Afrin who turned this region into a graveyard for Turkey-backed extremist mercenaries," he told the ANHA news agency.

Turkish officials have watched in alarm over the past six years of civil war in Syria as the YPG and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance that it dominates have taken control of tens of thousands of square kilometres of territory.

In 2016, Turkey supported an offensive by Syrian rebels - dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield - to drive Islamic State (IS) militants out of the key towns of Jarablus and al-Bab, and also to stop YPG fighters moving westwards towards Afrin and taking full control of the Turkish border.

Last October, Turkey stepped up the pressure on the Kurds in Afrin by deploying troops to northern Idlib province as part of a deal agreed with Russia and Iran that set up a "de-escalation zone" with the aim of reducing fighting between rebel factions and Syrian pro-government forces.

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