Turkish ground forces led by 1,000 members of Syrian Arab militias have begun occupying several towns and villages inside the Turkish-Syrian border on the third day of Turkey’s offensive against the region’s Kurds.
At least 64,000 civilians have fled, according to the International Rescue Committee, and the towns of Ras al-Ain and al-Darbasiyah, just inside the border, were reported to be deserted overnight. The Turks said they had killed 277 “militants”.
The Turkish government said it is attacking the Kurdish militias of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) which it said was merely the PKK — Kurdish Workers Party — whom it has been fighting for more than 30 years.
The incursion into Syria began at the weekend after a phone call between Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and US President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump then announced there would be a Turkish operation into Syria and that American troops — thought to number about 100 across the border — would be pulled back.
He has since denied giving Turkey the green light, though Pentagon officials said this is what the call amounted to in effect.
President Trump has come in for almost as much criticism as Mr Erdoğan, who has been warned against ethnic cleansing by the US, Israel and others.
Turkish forces have been rounding up Kurds inside Turkey, including elected politicians, as well as attacking into the borderland with Syria, home to nearly half a million Syrian Kurds.
Kurdish YPG militias did most of the ground fighting against Islamic State, including recapturing their stronghold, Raqqa. Thousands of IS militants could now be freed from Kurdish camps.
This part of the Turkish border was known as “Jihadi corridor” because of the ease with which militants were allowed to cross to join IS in Syria and Iraq. President Erdoğan said that Turkish forces would now control and defeat IS, but few think he has the will or ability.
He said he wants to return at least one million Syrian refugees from Turkish camps to the new buffer zone inside Syria. He has also threatened to send all 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to Europe if it continues its criticism, which seems a crude bluff.
