Turkey outlined Monday its plans for a 120km ‘safe zone’ in Syria on the eve of a key withdrawal deadline, AFP reported. A Turkish military source said Kurdish fighters should initially withdraw from the area between Tal Abyad, captured by Turkish forces at the start of the offensive, and Ras al-Ain, under a US-brokered agreement that expires Tuesday night.
Turkey has warned that if this does not happen it will resume its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which it began after the US announced it was pulling out troops from the area.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey wants a ‘safe zone’ that is 444km (275 miles) long, but the first stage of the plans will only cover a quarter of the distance.
An agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish forces to allow Syrian government troops into certain northern parts of the country appears to have thwarted Ankara’s plans for a larger ‘safe zone.’