Turkey deploys weaponry to Syrian border

“Right now, people say they have gone to the east but we say no, they haven’t crossed”, he said during a speech in Ankara. The straw that broke the camel’s back as far as Euphrates Shield is concerned was that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose backbone is the YPG, demonstrated their intention to continue marching west of the Euphrates after taking Manbij, despite USA guarantees to Ankara to the contrary. State-run Anadolu news agency reported that in a statement issued by the Turkish armed forces, the air campaign was carried out against “terrorist groups” which had attacked Turkish soldiers supporting a Free Syrian Army (FSA) operation in Jarablus.

Although the United States supported Turkey’s onslaught in Syria against ISIS, it is alarmed by the country’s offensive against the Kurdish forces and has asked Ankara to exclusively focus its assault on the Islamic State.

Turkey is part of the US -led coalition against Islamic State.

But he dismissed claims that the Kurdish YPG, which Ankara calls a terrorist group, had withdrawn to a Kurdish-controlled canton to the east of the Euphrates River. Working with “moderate” and “vetted” Syrian rebel groups, Turkish forces swept into northern Syria-assisted in part by US air power-and quickly took control of the border town Jarabulus. US officials have also said it has mostly withdrawn its forces to the east of the Euphrates, a natural boundary cutting through northern Syria.

While the U.S. and Turkey had been planning Operation Euphrates Shield for months, the Americans were apparently caught off guard by Turkey’s timing.

“Everything is destroyed in Manbij now”, he said, blaming the ruin on Islamic State.

TURKEY will treat Brits fighting alongside Kurdish groups in Syria as unsafe terrorists, a top government spokesman warned.

The rebels captured by the YPG were members of the pro-Turkey Sultan Murad Brigade, that has been fighting alongside Turkish army forces in Jarablus.

The protesters were demonstrating against Turkey building a wall on the Syrian border near the Kurdish Syrian town of Kobani, the security sources said. Turkey does not want the rebels it considers terrorists to form a corridor on its border.

Turkey’s entry into the war has exposed a rapidly shifting series of alliances that would not have been predictable at the start of the year, making footed partnerships now seem hesitant.

The next phase of their operation could take weeks or months, he said, and could require an increase in the number of rebel fighters from their current level of 1,200-1,500. The second is to push Kurdish forces to the West from the Euphrates. Kurdish leaders know there will be a day of reckoning and have long pondered how to keep their gains once their foreign allies no longer feel threatened by ISIS and need their support.

“The fundamental Turkish red line is not Assad”, Stavridis, the former North Atlantic Treaty Organisation commander, said.

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