Alwaght-Turkey has announced and end to its military incursion in northern Syria claiming the operation was a success.
Operation Euphrates Shield, which was launched last August “has been concluded successfully”, according to a Wednesday statement from the country's r National Security Council. The council issued the verdict after a four-hour meeting chaired by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.
The conclusion of the Euphrates Shield operation was also confirmed by Turkey’s Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim. The PM told the NTV broadcaster the operation had been successful and that further Turkish military actions would be conducted under a different name.
Turkey launched the Euphrates Shield operation on August 24, 2016, with the alleged aim of clearing the border with ISIS terrorist group and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces — which is also classified as terrorist organizations by Ankara. This is despite the fact the PYD has been in the forefront of confronting ISIS terrorists. Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdish rebel group known as PKK which seeks autonomy from the country. In the course of the operation Turkey has been supporting the a Syrian terrorist group, the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) on the ground.
The Syrian government has criticized the presence of Turkish troops as an “act of aggression” and asked the UN Security Council to “force Turkey to withdraw its invasion forces.”
The official announcement of the conclusion of the Euphrates Shield operation came a day before the US Secretary of State visits Turkey.
Rex Tillerson is expected to meet with Erdogan and other Turkish officials in Ankara on Thursday.
Relations between Washington and Ankara have been strained recently over US support for the Syrian Kurds.
