Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies have begun a ground offensive in northern Syria, hours after warplanes and artillery began hitting territory held by Kurdish-led forces.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long threatened to attack the Kurdish fighters. Ankara considers them terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.
The offensive began after the United States pulled its troops from the region, leaving its Kurdish ally without U.S. military support.
CGTN’s Michal Bardavid reports from the Turkey-Syrian border.
To discuss the ongoing Turkish military offensive:
- Metin Gurcan is a security analyst and columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse.
- Giran Ozcan is the U.S. representative for Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party.
- Dlshad Othman is a Kurdish-Syrian activist and cyber security specialist.
- Edmund Ghareeb is a Middle East scholar and analyst.
For more:
Turkey launches airstrikes, fires artillery and begins a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, paving the way for an assault on forces that have long been allied with the United States. https://t.co/EOGCBuABUY
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2019
Control of territory in Syria and areas hit by air strikes and shelling as the Turkish offensive started against Kurdish militants on October 9 pic.twitter.com/xeEuSmVbnS
— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 10, 2019
JUST IN: Norway suspends arms sales to Turkey over Syria invasion https://t.co/43XdjcpMxK pic.twitter.com/LiRncs9fP1
— The Hill (@thehill) October 10, 2019