ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey said it will “soon” take further steps in northern Syria, as Kurds in the area reported 159 “attacks” in July near Afrin at the hands of the Turkish and its Free Syrian Army (FSA) militias. "We are determined to extend the dagger we have put into the heart of the terror entity project through the Euphrates Shield Operation with new moves,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a crowd in Malatya on Saturday, not specifying what entity he was referring to. The Euphrates Shield was an operation Turkey launched in August of 2016 that captured several key ISIS-held towns like Jarablus and then al-Bab. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced a “successful” end to the operation in March. He added that “any operation following this one will have a different name.” Erdogan’s remarks come amid renewed tensions northwest of Syria between the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Turkish backed FSA. YPG fighters are a component of the US-led global anti-ISIS coalition’s local ground partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG is a multi-ethnic, but Kurdish-led force and the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD). Official SDF media claimed on Saturday that the FSA “launched 159 attacks on our areas” near Afrin last month. Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who have re-ignited their three-decade-long guerilla war against the Turkish government. “Soon we will take new and important steps regarding this matter,” Erdogan added on Saturday. “It is clear that the situation in Syria is way outside the boundaries of a war on a terror organization." The SDF reported Turkey “and its militias continue to bombard and target the towns and villages of Al-Shahba and Afrin,” claiming that Turkish aircraft are also “causing material damage to civilian property.” At different times, the Russian and US militaries have created buffer zones between the Kurds and Turkey’s FSA fighters for whom the US officially dropped support for last month.
