Turkish president and other senior officials said on Wednesday that the Operation Peace Spring, launched earlier in the day, aims to eliminate terrorism along its border and establish a safe zone to facilitate return of Syrian refugees. "The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army, just launched Operation Peace Spring against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), YPG (People's Protection Units) and Daesh (Islamic State) militants in northern Syria," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a tweet. Turkish army shelled Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad line in northern Syria with storm howitzers, backed by strikes by F16 fighter jets, a Turkish official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The YPG, which controls the east of the Euphrates, was a key partner of the United States in the fight against the ISIL, but Ankara considers it as a "terrorist" offshoot of the outlawed PKK in Syria. Last Sunday, the White House said that it will not support or be involved in the Turkish operation in northern Syria and will withdraw its troops from "the immediate area." The move was widely considered as "a green light" to a Turkish incursion into Syria. In 2016, Turkey launched the Operation Euphrates Shield and in 2018 the Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria against the YPG. Subscribe to us on YouTube:
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