Erdogan vows Syria ground invasion

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to order a land invasion of northern Syria targeting Kurdish groups, amid years-long border violence and repeated Turkish incursions.

Turkey has launched a barrage of air strikes on suspected militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly November 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

Ankara’s allies, particularly Russia, have attempted to avert a ground incursion, but Erdogan said on Wednesday in a speech to his ruling party’s legislators in Ankara that the air operations are “just the beginning” and that Turkey is determined to “close down all of our southern borders … with a security strip that will prevent the possibility of attacks on our country.”

Turkey has carried out a series of incursions into Syria since 2016 and already controls parts of northern Syria. Erdogan said the new military offensive, planned to take place “at the most convenient time for us” would target the regions of Tel Rifaat, Manbij and Kobani, which is also known by its Arabic name Ayn Al Arab.

“The day is near when those concrete tunnels which the terrorists use for safety will become their graves,” he said.

The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria, meanwhile, said his group is prepared to repel a ground invasion by Turkey.

SDF head Mazloum Abdi told the The Associated Press that his group has been preparing for another such attack since Turkey launched a ground offensive in the area in 2019 and “we believe that we have reached a level where we can foil any new attack. At least the Turks will not be able to occupy more of our areas and there will be a great battle.”

He added, “If Turkey attacks any region, the war will spread to all regions … and everyone will be hurt by that.”

Following the weekend’s air strikes, Turkish officials said that suspected Kurdish militants fired rockets on Monday across the Syrian border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.

Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

Mazloum called on Moscow and Damascus, as well as on the US-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria, with which allied with Kurdish fighters in the area, to take a stronger stance to prevent a Turkish ground invasion, warning that such an action could harm attempts to combat a resurgence of IS.

“We can say that our work against IS with the international coalition has stopped, because we are preoccupied with the Turkish attacks,” he said. “Our coordination and work with the Russians on the ground has also been affected by the Turkish attacks.”