Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that his country’s ground forces will enter a planned safe zone in northern Syria “very soon.”
The move was preceded by the opening over the weekend of a joint operation center with the United States.
Ankara and Washington agreed earlier this month to set up the joint center for the planned safe zone along Syria's northeastern border, but gave few details on the size of the zone or the command structure of the forces to operate there.
“We are slowly making progress in our efforts to establish a safe zone,” Erdogan said. “Just like many other issues some saw as untouchable, we are putting the east of the Euphrates issue on track.”
Turkey has repeatedly said that it would not tolerate any delays to the agreement by US officials, warning that it will mount a cross-border offensive on its own to clear its borders from the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) if necessary.
On Monday, Erdogan said progress was being made on plans to establish the safe zone, but added that Turkey had made all preparations to carry out its own plans if its expectations are not met.
"Our priority is dialogue and cooperation. If we are pushed to a road that we don't want or face stalling, our preparations are ready and we will implement our own plans," he said. "Our UAVs and helicopters have entered the region. Very soon, our ground troops will also enter the region."
The comments come two days after Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the joint US-Turkey center became fully operational. Akar also said some YPG positions in the region had been destroyed by US troops as part of the deal.
Speaking on Monday, Akar said that talks were underway for Turkish and US soldiers to begin joint patrols in the planned safe zone area "soon."
Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads over a host of issues including conflicting policies in Syria. US support for the YPG has enraged Turkey, which views the militia as a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish insurgents inside the country.
On the ground, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended the Syrian regime’s offensive against the northwestern region of Idlib.
He said the Moscow-backed operation did not violate any agreements with Turkey, the RIA news agency reported.
Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday that regime attacks in Idlib were causing a humanitarian crisis and threatening Turkey’s national security, the Turkish presidency said.
The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin understood Erdogan’s concerns, but that he was equally concerned about attacks by factions from Idlib that needed to be stamped out.
“Putin has repeatedly said he understands the concerns of our Turkish colleagues ... but at the same time the president remains ... concerned about the activisation of action by terrorist elements from Idlib that cannot be (left) without being stamped out and destroyed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
A new push by regime and Russian forces to take the area has seen heavy strikes and advances last week in the south of Idlib province and nearby Hama, prompting a new civilian exodus. Hundreds of people have been killed in the campaign since late April, the United Nations says.
On Friday, regime forces reclaimed a cluster of towns they had lost early in the eight-year-old war, driving out the last opposition fighters from the Hama countryside.
Idlib city itself has largely been spared airstrikes since a major bombing campaign on the territory began in late April, but on Saturday its outskirts were hit from the air.
Heavy strikes continued to hit the south of Idlib province, including around Maarat al-Numan, a city that has been a sanctuary for families fleeing former opposition areas around the country. This week tens of thousands fled to Syria’s border with Turkey as the fighting advanced.
