Turkish military operation in Syria’s Afrin has begun: Erdogan

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday a military operation in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled Afrin region had begun after cross-border shelling by the Turkish army.

Turkey’s army said on Saturday it hit shelters and hideouts used by militants from three groups - the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), PYD and YPG, after militants fired on Turkish positions inside Turkey.

"We will destroy the terror corridor gradually as we did in Jarabulus and El-bab operations, starting from the west. Afrin operation has de-facto started in the field. Manbij will follow," Erdogan said.

Erdogan has repeatedly said he would crush the Syrian Kurdish militia in Afrin, which he views as a security threat to Turkey.

Direct military action against territory held by Kurdish militia opens a new front in Syria’s civil war and sees Ankara confronting Kurds allied to the United States at a time when Turkey’s relations with Washington are reaching breaking point.

The US State Department called on Turkey to focus on the fight against Islamic State militants and described Turkish activity in Afrin as destabilising.

Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Friday that Turkey’s operation in the region had started with cross-border shelling, but no troops have gone into Afrin.

Units of pro-Ankara rebels known by Turkey as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) also began moving into the Afrin area of Syria which is controlled by the YPG, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

The Turkish army has over the last two days shelled camps and refuges used by the YPG and Erdogan said earlier Saturday that Turkey had "de-facto" launched the operation.

Erdogan said that after Afrin, the forces would also seek to oust the YPG from Manbij, a town to the east that the Kurdish militia also holds.

A Turkish foreign ministry official said in the wake of the announcement of the air strikes that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks with US counterpart Rex Tillerson, at Washington’s request.

Turkey accuses the YPG of being the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a rebellion in the Turkish southeast for more than three decades and is regarded as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

But the YPG has been the key ally of Turkey’s fellow NATO member the United States in the fight against IS jihadists, playing a key role in pushing the extremists out of their Syrian strongholds. But it was still unclear what form a Turkish ground operation will take, given the considerable political and military risks.

Turkey from August 2016 to March 2017 pushed into Syria in its more than half-year Euphrates Shield operation in an area to the east of Afrin against both YPG and IS.

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad warned on Thursday that the Syrian air force could destroy any Turkish warplanes used in the new offensive.

Meanwhile, Russia voiced concern and urged restraint over a new Turkish operation to oust Kurdish militia from a northern Syrian enclave, with Moscow responding by withdrawing its troops from the zone in question. "Moscow is concerned at this news. We call on the opposing parties to show restraint," the foreign ministry said in a statement after the launch of an operation which has also drawn US warnings.