Turkey Builds Up Military at Syria Border for Planned Offensive

Kurds vow to resist any Turkish invasion

Turkish military forces are scrambling into the Kilis Province on Thursday, one day after President Erdogan announced his intention to launch a major invasion of northeastern Syria, with an intention of ousting the Kurdish YPG from the area.

The invasion was announced despite Pentagon warnings that it was “unacceptable.” In addition to Turkey’s military, Turkey-aligned rebels are said to be preparing to join the invasion, with as many as 15,000 expected.

Kurdish officials say that they intend to fight any Turkish invasion of their territory. That’s probably not surprising, as Erdogan has indicated he’s going to expel them from lands east of the Euphrates, and Turkey already expelled them from everything west of the Euphrates, so they don’t have anyplace else to flee.

At the same time, there are reports that the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and the US are pushing last minute diplomacy to try to prevent the invasion. Turkey had indicated that the invasion would begin in the next few days, so there seems to be little time to head off this fight.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.