President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey will launch a wide-scale military operation, east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria, an area that is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia. “Now, we will enter east of the Euphrates. We have shared this (information) with Russia and the United States as well because it is impossible for us to remain silent as long as cross-border fire persists,” the Turkish President said.
President Erdogan’s statement came in light of growing frustration in Ankara, which according to Turkish sources is growing over Washington’s unrelenting attitude towards it – and is losing patience with the United States over its stalled pledge to implement a safe-zone in northeastern Syria. While the Trump Administration vowed to withdraw from Syria’s northeastern region, alongside Turkey’s border; Ankara’s vow to eradicate the YPG militia – a Kurdish militant group that served as Washington’s main Syrian ally in the battle against the Islamic State – forced the United States to reconsider its planned disengagement.
The move infuriated Ankara, which demands that Washington sever its relations with the YPG militia immediately.