A convoy of Free Syrian Army fighters arrives on Turkey’s side of the border area in Akcakale. More here:
AKCAKALE, Turkey - Turkish forces and Syrian rebel allies will push into Syria “shortly”, a Turkish official said on Wednesday, in an operation world powers fear could open a new phase in Syria’s war and deepen regional turmoil.
Ankara has said it intends to create a “safe zone” in order to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil, but the scheme has alarmed some Western allies as much as the risks posed by the military operation itself. President Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said YPG fighters could either defect or fight the Turkish forces, who he said were also taking over the battle against Islamic State in Syria.“The Turkish military, together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Turkish-Syrian border shortly,” Altun wrote in a tweet and in a column published in the Washington Post.
At Akcakale, across from Syria’s Tel Abyad, howitzers were deployed behind earth embankments and pointed towards Syria, a Reuters witness said on Tuesday. Multiple launch rocket systems were stationed at Suruc, some 60 km to the west, opposite the Syrian border town of Kobani, he said. The prospect of a military offensive has unsettled Turkish financial markets, with the lira this week hitting its weakest level since late August. The currency firmed slightly to 5.8220 against the dollar on Wednesday morning.
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