{"id":64845,"date":"2018-03-20T03:42:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T03:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/20\/turkish-leader-vows-wider-offensive-against-kurdish-militia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:04:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:04:57","slug":"turkish-leader-vows-wider-offensive-against-kurdish-militia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/20\/turkish-leader-vows-wider-offensive-against-kurdish-militia\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish leader vows wider offensive against Kurdish militia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIRUT \u2014 Turkey\u2019s president vowed Monday to keep up the pressure against a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia after his troops captured the Syrian town of Afrin<\/a>, threatening to expand the military offensive into other Kurdish-held areas across northern Syria and even into neighboring Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared set on forcing Washington to reconsider its partnership with the Syrian Kurdish fighters<\/a>, the main U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State<\/a> group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey first launched its military operation in Syria in 2016, and Erdogan has repeatedly said it will not allow a \u201cterror corridor\u201d along its border \u2014 a reference to territories controlled by the Kurdish forces, which Turkey views as terrorists because of their links to Kurdish insurgents fighting inside Turkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emboldened by Sunday\u2019s capture of Afrin, Erdogan went even further on Monday, asserting that Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces would press eastward, targeting territory that includes Kobani, a town that has become a symbol of the fight against the Islamic State militants, as well as Qamishli, where the Syrian government controls an airport and a security zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a ceremony for judicial appointments in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, March 19, 2018. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar\/Pool photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also in the cross hairs is Manbij, a town jointly patrolled by U.S- and Kurdish forces and where U.S. bases are housed, triggering concerns over potential friction with U.S. troops. Erdogan even threatened to target Iraq\u2019s Sinjar mountains, used by Kurdish fighters to move between Iraq and Syria, and which Turkey claims is a stronghold for the outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting an insurgency in its southeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll continue this process until we completely abolish this corridor,\u201d Erdogan said. \u201cOne night, we could suddenly enter Sinjar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicholas Heras, a Middle East Security fellow at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said the capture of Afrin was a \u201cmilestone\u201d for Turkey in Syria but was not the end of its campaign against the Kurdish militia, known as the Syrian Kurdish People\u2019s Defense Units, or YPG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe final destination is a Turkish war on the Kurds throughout northern and eastern Syria that destroys the YPG and forces the Americans to work by, with and through Turkey\u201d in the fight against ISIS and in Syria, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. support of Syria\u2019s Kurdish militia, which Turkey views as a threat to its national security, has soured relations between the two NATO allies. Ankara has accused the U.S. of not fulfilling a promise to move Syrian Kurdish fighters out of Manbij. Seeking to ease tensions, U.S. and Turkish officials held talks about Manbij earlier this month following a visit by outgoing U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson. But with Tillerson\u2019s firing, the next round of talks has been postponed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t