ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ankara is waiting for the right time to carry out the expected ground operation against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria (Rojava), said a Turkish presidential spokesperson on Tuesday, adding that this could happen “at any moment.”
Turkey launched an aerial offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria on November 20, expanding it to the country’s northeastern towns the following days. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that a ground operation could take place “soon.”
The military campaign came days after a blast in Istanbul’s bustling Taksim square killed six people and injured 81 others. Turkey has blamed the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the US-supported SDF, for the attack but the group has strongly denied involvement.
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s top advisor and spokesperson, told a pro-government broadcaster on Tuesday that the ground operation in Syria “could happen tomorrow, next week, earlier, later, or at any moment.”
“Turkey has to evaluate the threats, the evaluations made by the Turkish Armed Forces, information gathered by the intelligence agency, and developments on the ground,” he added.
Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, told reporters during an online press conference on Tuesday that Ankara is preparing its Syrian mercenaries for the expected offensive.
“Regarding the ground operation, they [Turkey] insist on going ahead with it. We know that they are preparing for that. They are also preparing Syrian groups which have invaded [parts] of the region for the offensive,” he said.
The potential offensive will have many negative impacts on all Syrians and displaced at least a million people, warned Abdi.
Ankara has carried out three major military operations against the SDF in Syria since 2016, invading several Kurdish towns, such as Afrin. Syrian armed groups, affiliated to Turkey, have been accused of committing human rights violations, killings and abductions as well as forcing the displacement of Kurds.
Turkey claims that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but designated as a terrorist group by Ankara. Turkish authorities have claimed that these groups pose a threat to its national security, demanding the establishment of a 30-km-deep “security zone” in northern Syria.
Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, Press Secretary for the Department of Defense, told reporters late Tuesday that a possible "ground invasion" by Turkey "would severely jeopardize the hard-fought gains the world has achieved against ISIS and would destabilize the region."
He confirmed the reduction of anti-ISIS patrols in northeast Syria.
"We have reduced the number of partner patrols and ... we do remain deeply concerned about the escalating actions in northern Syria, Iraq and Turkiye. We certainly urge restraint amidst the tensions in this region," he noted.
Updated at 10:55pm with comments from DoD Press Secretary
