Erdogan vows to resume northern Syria assault

Moaz Mohamed

A new crisis looms between Turkey and Russia on the territory of northern Syria, despite an agreement between Ankara and Moscow on October 22, 2019 to evacuate the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) 30-km off the area, and facilitate joint military patrols.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his speech during a parliamentary meeting with his AKP party, on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, described the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which his country considers a “terrorist organization,” as a “herd of murderers,” stressing Ankara’s determination to continue to confront them.

According Sputnik, the Turkish army initiated a violent attack with heavy weapons, on Wednesday, November 20, on four Syrian villages in the northern countryside of Raqqa.

Moreover, silos in the western countryside of Tal Abyad were heavily shelled by Turkish missiles. Some SDF members were using some of these silons as shelters.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement about Russia’s failure to fulfill its promises and his threats to resume Ankara’s military operation in northern Syria were surprising, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Tuesday.

“The Russian Defense Ministry was surprised to hear Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement about Russia’s alleged failure to fulfill its promises, as well as his threats about an operation in northern Syria,” he said. “The Turkish top diplomat’s statement calling for military activities may raise tensions in Syria’s north instead of easing them in accordance with a joint memorandum signed by the presidents of Russia and Turkey,” Konashenkov added.

According to Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper, Cavusoglu said on Monday that Ankara was ready to resume Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria in case the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) failed to pull their fighters back from the Turkish-Syrian border. The Turkish foreign minister also accused Washington and Moscow of failing to take the necessary steps within the agreements they had reached with Ankara.

On October 9, Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria, codenaming it Operation Peace Spring, with the Turkish Armed Forces and the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army carrying it out.

On the contrary, Russia’s belief that Turkey had been considering resuming its operation in northern Syria was a “misunderstanding,” Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, has said according to TASS.

Lavrov told reporters that the withdrawal of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) has been “practically completed” adding: “There are maybe some individual areas where this matter still needs to be finished.”