Erdogan says Turkey will launch ground operations against Kurdish forces in Syria
Xinhua News Agency, Ankara, November 23 (Reporter Wang Tengfei) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the 23rd that the Turkish army will launch a ground military operation against the Kurdish armed “People’s Protection Units” entrenched in northern Syria at the right time, so that Establish a security buffer zone in northern Syria on Turkey’s southern border.
Erdogan said at the parliamentary group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party that day that Turkey’s previous attacks with planes, artillery and drones were just the beginning. Turkey will gradually eradicate the militants in northern Syria from Tel Rifat, Manbij to Ain al-Arab.
On the 20th, the Turkish army launched an air strike code-named “Claw Sword” against the bases of the Kurdish Workers Party and the “People’s Protection Forces” in Iraq and northern Syria. The air strike is considered to be in retaliation for the bombing attack in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, on the 13th of this month.
The “People’s Protection Forces” have been active in the Kurdish-inhabited northern region of Syria since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and currently control a large area of northern Syria.