Turkish President Erdogan announces new military campaign in Syria

Ankara: – In the last 48 hours, two Turkish soldiers and six members of a Turkish-linked group have been killed in attacks in northern Syria. Enraged by this, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a new military campaign against Kurdish rebels in Syria. President Erdogan has threatened that the attacks on Turkish troops will no longer be tolerated. Erdogan issued the threat after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Turkish soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in Syria’s Jazan region. For the past few years, the Turkish army has occupied the Kurdish part of northern Syria and set up military bases here. As a result, Turkish troops face attacks by Kurdish groups in Syria. On Monday, a car bomb blast near the Syrian city of Afrin killed at least six people following the rocket attack on Sunday evening. All were members of a Turkish-linked terrorist organisation in Syria.

Turkey has accused Syria’s People’s Protection Units-YPG of both attacks. It is also claimed that two rockets were fired at the Gaziantep region of Turkey from the Syrian city of Jarabulus. Later, on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened a meeting with his security officials and announced a new military campaign against Kurdish organisations in Syria.

Turkey’s restraint regarding some of the groups in Syria attacking Turkey has ended. Besides, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the Turkish military in Syria would launch a new military campaign against the groups or use other options. The Turkish president declined to comment further on the other options. But by announcing a new military campaign in Syria, President Erdogan made it clear that he would take major action against Kurdish organisations in Syria. Turkey is claimed to have issued a warning to the US by targeting Kurdish organisations in Syria.

Turkey, which took part in the fight against IS in 2016, had sent troops into Syria. But since then, Turkey’s military action in Syria has been directed against Kurdish groups, with no connection to IS. Turkey has declared the Kurdish PKK and YPG as terrorist organisations. But the position of the United States on Kurdish organisations in Syria is entirely different from that of Turkey. The United States is taking the help of Kurdish organisations to fight IS terrorists. This led to sharp differences between the United States and Turkey. In such a scenario, analysts are wondering what stand the United States will adopt regarding the announcement by the Turkish president about the new military campaign against the Kurds in Syria.