U.S. and Turkish troops conduct their third joint ground patrol within a planned safe zone in northern Syria, along the Syrian-Turkish border in Tell Abyad, Syria on October 04, 2019
ISTANBUL: Turkey's president is threatening to launch a solo military operation into northeastern Syria, saying the Turkish army is ready to move against U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces "maybe today, maybe tomorrow."
Speaking Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded an answer from NATO-ally the U.S. on where it stands regarding the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Turkey views the People's Protection Units, or YPG, as an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders, and expects the U.S. to stop supporting them. The group forms the backbone of U.S.-backed Syrian forces against the Islamic State group.
Erdogan said the U.S. had not followed through with promised plans to run joint patrols in the border area, and to establish a so-called safe zone to push the Kurdish fighters away from Turkey's borders.
