On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country has completed its planning and preparations to “destroy the terrorists east of the Euphrates River in Syria,” indicating that Ankara will soon launch broader and more active military operations in this area, according to the Anadolu News Agency.
According to the agency, the Turkish army has bombarded the positions of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the Ain al-Arab area, east of the Euphrates. The agency said that “the artillery bombardment struck positions from which YPG units had fired from, near the Four al-Ghar village in the eastern Aleppo countryside.
Over the last 24 hours, the YPG militias have left positions near the Turkish border in the eastern Euphrates area, according to the Nedaa Syria website, which said that the militias had begun evacuating their bases near the Turkish border in the Tel Abyad area and the town of Salouk in the Raqqa countryside, and the Ras al-Arin area in the Hassakeh countryside, predicting that the fighters and weapons would withdraw toward the city of Raqqa.
On Friday, the Turkish President threatened to attack YPG positions east of the Euphrates, in the same manner as the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
