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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the possibility of launching a “ground operation” in Syria, following suffering a rain of rockets from his neighbor on Monday. The day before, Ankara had carried out a series of air raids in Syria, in retaliation for the attack which killed six people on November 13 in Istanbul, attributed by Turkey to Kurdish “terrorists”.
In the followingmath of a series of air raids once morest Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq, rocket fire from Syrian territory targeted the Turkish border town of Karkamis (south-east) on Monday, November 21, killing three people, including a child, and wounding six, announced the Turkish Minister of the Interior. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned the possible launch of a “ground operation” in Syria.
“There is no question that this operation is only limited to an air operation”, declared the head of state to the Turkish journalists who accompanied him on the return from Qatar, where he attended the opening of the Cup of the soccer world.
The series of air raids, which killed around 30 people on Sunday in Syria, were launched in retaliation for the attack which killed six people November 13 in Istanbul, attributed by Ankara to Kurdish “terrorists”. “The competent units, our Ministry of Defense and our general staff will decide together on the power which must be committed by our land forces”, indicated the president, mentioning “consultations” in progress.
“We will make those who disturb us on our territory pay”
“We have already warned: we will make those who disturb us on our territory pay,” he reaffirmed.
Sunday evening and Monday morning, rocket fire from Syria hit the Turkish border and territory, killing a total of three people and wounding nearly fifteen.
Regarding the “Sword Claw” operation, launched on Sunday once morest the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Defense Units (YPG), “it was carried out by 70 planes and drones”, detailed the president: “They sank 140 km into northern Iraq and 20 km into northern Syria,” he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also assured that he had “no discussion” with US President Joe Biden or his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin regarding the operation. The United States supports the YPG in northeastern Syria once morest the jihadists of the Islamic State group and Russia supports pro-regime militias in the same region.
In the wake of this announcement, the German government called on Turkey to act “proportionately”. “Turkey refers to its right of self-defense to act. We ask Turkey to act in a proportionate way, respecting international law,” a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said during a briefing. -regular press. “This implies in particular that civilians must be protected,” added Christofer Burger, deeming “extremely worrying” the information on Turkish strikes on civilians.
With AFP