Alwaght- The Turkish army has sent 1,000 special forces inside Syrian territory on a secret mission, the British Independent newspaper reported.
The forces armed with heavy weaponry and armed vehicles, are speculated to have entered Syria to secure what Ankara calls a “Security Zone” south of its border, the report says.
While international focus is on the devastating bombing going on in Aleppo, another offensive is taking place, much of it in the shadows, which could be a game-changer in Syrian war.
The Turkish so-called Euphrates Shield Operation is extending much deeper into the Syrian lands were Ankara is attacking US-backed Kurd militants to secure its already southern Kurdish regions from further infiltration of weapons and armed Kurd groups.
Turkey claims to be fighting the ISIS terrorists on the ground but the longstanding reports on ISIS-Turkish collaborations especially on the issue of terrorists’ weapon supplies, casts serious doubts on the claim.
The report in the Independent further explains Turkey has ignored the US warnings against attacking the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which claims to be an alliance of Syrian Arabs and Kurds.
Ankara has clearly requested Washington to drop its support for the Kurds when President Erdogan said earlier this week: “Of course, if the United States wants to do the Raqqa operation with the YPG and the Democratic Union Party [PYD – a Kurdish organization] we as Turkey will not take part in this operation; but if they exclude the YPG and PYD from this affair, then of course we will conjoin this struggle together with the United States."
Syrian government has condemned the Turkish incursion as an occupation of its territory.
On another front, Turkey has send units of its army into Iraqi territory in an attempt to take part in the upcoming operation to liberate Mosul, an attempt Baghdad has rejected saying no foreign troops will participate in the operation.
