President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today vowed to expand Turkey's Syria campaign to other Kurdish-held areas up to the Iraqi border, a day after ousting Kurdish militia from their former enclave of Afrin.
Indicating there was no plan for the Turkish army to call off offensive, Erdogan described the taking of Afrin as merely a "comma" and also warned Turkey could launch a surprise attack on Kurdish rebel strongholds in Iraq.
He said the Turkish campaign in Syria, conducted in tandem with allied Syrian forces, could now extend up to Qamishli, the most easterly Syrian town held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) before the Iraqi border.
"Now we will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tel-Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
Manbij, the next main YPG-held town east of Afrin is a particular flashpoint as there is a US military presence there, raising the risk of confrontation between the NATO allies.
Ayn al-Arab is the border town known as Kobane in Kurdish, of symbolic importance as it was the epicentre of a struggle with Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
The YPG is seen by the United States as a key player in the fight against Islamic State jihadists. But Turkey brands it a terrorist group.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
