RTSun, 13 Oct 2019 16:03 UTC
© REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
President Erdogan has shed light on some plans for his country's offensive in northern Syria, setting territorial limits to his troops' advances. He warned that nothing - including Western pressure - can stop Turkey's operation.
Turkish forces will advance 30 to 35km into Syrian territory as part of Operation 'Peace Spring', Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed in a televised speech on Sunday.
The army and allied Syrian rebels have also taken under its control a 68-kilometer stretch of Syria's border, pushing back against the Kurdish resistance, he added.
He spoke shortly after Ankara proclaimed seizure of an important border town, Ras al-Ain, along with another settlement, Tal Abyad. Both towns had been held by Syrian Kurdish militias.
"We focused first on the 120-km (75-mile) area between Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad. Thus, we will divide the 480 km terrorist corridor down the middle," Erdogan was quoted by Reuters as saying.
© Global Look Press / Anas Alkharboutli / Source: dpaTurkish forces amass at the border before advancing towards Tal Abyad
"Then we will take control of Hasaka on the one side and Ain al Arab [Kobani] on the other, and complete the operation," he said.
Turkey's operation kicked off this week on the back of President Donald Trump's decision to order US troops out of the area. Turkey protests that it's merely seeking to safeguard its border and to create a buffer zone for Syrian displaced persons and refugees. But the Kurdish-dominated People's Protection Units (YPG) suspect the Turkish offensive targets their enclaves and claim that it may yet take the shape of an ethnic cleansing.
© REUTERS/Murad SezerTurkish tanks unload in the border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Turkey
The operation was met with little praise among Ankara's allies in NATO.
Some members - so far, France, Norway and Germany - have suspended their arms sales to Turkey in response. The US and the European Union also urged consideration of imposing sanctions on Turkey, but Erdogan believes it will not have any impact on his country's plans.
"After we launched our operation, we have faced threats like economic sanctions and embargoes on weapons sales," he stated on Sunday.
"Those who think they can make Turkey turn back with these threats are gravely mistaken," he cautioned.
Comment: After Turkey's "accidental" shelling of American positions yesterday, Trump has
ordered a 'deliberate evacuation' of the remaining 1000 troops stationed in Syria's north, according to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on CBS's Face the Nation.
Amid the US withdrawl from the region, Turkish forces took control of a key supply route, cutting off US forces still in the region:
The M4 highway runs parallel to the Syria-Turkey border, and is an essential supply route for Kurdish militia groups in the area. The Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it has seized control of the route, and pushed 30-35km into Kurdish-held territory, several kilometers beyond its proposed 30km 'safe zone.'
In an earlier report, CNN stated that its reporters witnessed anti-government Syrian rebels - allied with Turkey - taking control of the route as Turkish aircraft buzzed overhead.
The Turkish incursion reportedly isolates US troops stationed in the Kurdish stronghold of Kobani from those stationed in the eastern reaches of Kurdish territory. Though the offensive was launched after the withdrawal of a small number of US troops near the Turkish border in northern Syria, its speed and depth prompted Washington to pull another 1,000 American personnel from the area.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CBS News on Sunday that the US is "preparing to evacuate" the troops "as safely and quickly as possible," to avoid being pinned between the Turkish advance and Kurdish defense, and also to allow the Kurds to "cut a deal" with the Syrian government and Russia to "counter-attack against the Turks."
"And so we find ourselves, we have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation," he told CBS. "There is no way they could stop 15,000 Turks from proceeding south."
It is not clear whether the troops will be flying home to America, despite President Donald Trump's pledge to cease the US' "endless wars." Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday that American troops will remain "co-located" with Kurdish forces, but that will likely be dictated by the depth of the Turkish advance.
As for the shelling of US positions yesterday,
WaPo claims US officials
think it was deliberate:
According to four current and former US officials, cited by The Washington Post, Turkish forces knew for months that a US Special Operations outpost was stationed in the area.
One US official said, cited by WaPo, that multiple rounds of 155mm fire were launched from within Turkey and that they had a "bracketing effect" in which shells landed on both sides of US positions.
"That's an area weapon [...] That's not something we ever would have done to a partner force", the official said, adding that Turkish forces knew there were Americans on the hill and that it had to be deliberate, the DC-based newspaper reported.
Communications Director at the Turkish Presidential Administration Fahrettin Altun condemned the Arab League's condemnation of the Turkish op:
Iran's FM offered to mediate:
According to rebel-friendly SOHR, at least 38 civilians have been
killed so far, including a Kurdish female leader killed in an ambush by Turkey-backed rebels:
General Secretary of the Future Syria Party Hevrin Khalaf and her driver have been killed on an international road in Syria by Turkey-backed fighters, Kurdish forces report. According to the party, cited by the news outlet Kurdistan 24, the 35-year-old woman, who earlier lambasted Ankara's attempts "to occupy this land in order to defend the Turkish people" and that they "don't adjust to reality", was ambushed on her way from Jazeera canton to Raqqa. The attackers reportedly blocked the road at a checkpoint and killed people there.
The political wing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), later stated that she was "taken out of her car during a Turkish-backed attack and executed by Turkish-backed mercenary factions", along with her driver.
"This is clear evidence that the Turkish state is continuing its criminal policy towards unarmed civilians", their statement reads.
As the local watchdog the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), cited by The Guardian, claims, the vocal critic of the Turkish offensive was one of nine civilians executed at different points south of the town of Tell Abiad. They are said to have been targeted for their cars by Turkish-backed fighters, who entered Syria amid Ankara's operation in the Kurdish-held north-eastern part of the war-torn country.
For previous updates, see:
UPDATEAfter Esper's statement, it looks like the SDF may have cut a deal with Damascus. The Syrian Army is preparing to enter the northeast to counter the Turks' invasion:
So far, RT is
confirming that the Syrian Army is on the move:
Tensions are mounting in northern Syria as Damascus started moving its forces to face the Turkish troops that are carrying out an operation against the Kurds in the area, state news agency Sana reports.
The Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reached an agreement with Damascus, which will see the Syrian government troops arriving in the northern Kobani region, Mohammed Shaheen, deputy chairman of Euphrates Region, said earlier.
The Syrians will deploy to Kobani within 48 hours, Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen reported. RT's sources in the region also confirmed the reports.
Comment: After Turkey's "accidental" shelling of American positions yesterday, Trump has ordered a 'deliberate evacuation' of the remaining 1000 troops stationed in Syria's north, according to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on CBS's Face the Nation.
Amid the US withdrawl from the region, Turkish forces took control of a key supply route, cutting off US forces still in the region: As for the shelling of US positions yesterday, WaPo claims US officials think it was deliberate: Communications Director at the Turkish Presidential Administration Fahrettin Altun condemned the Arab League's condemnation of the Turkish op:
Iran's FM offered to mediate:
According to rebel-friendly SOHR, at least 38 civilians have been killed so far, including a Kurdish female leader killed in an ambush by Turkey-backed rebels: For previous updates, see:
After Esper's statement, it looks like the SDF may have cut a deal with Damascus. The Syrian Army is preparing to enter the northeast to counter the Turks' invasion:
So far, RT is confirming that the Syrian Army is on the move: