Turkish military shipment arrives at Syrian border

Ersin Çelik
15:2417/01/2018, Wednesday
U: 17/01/2018, Wednesday
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Tanks and armoured vehicles transferred to the 1st Border Troops in Hassa, in Turkey’s Hatay province
Tanks and armoured vehicles transferred to the 1st Border Troops in Hassa, in Turkey’s Hatay province

Turkey sends reinforcements to southern border ahead of possible military operation in Afrin, Syria

Military reinforcements arrived at the Syrian border in Turkey's southern Hatay province on Wednesday, including tanks, according to reports from the ground.

The four tanks, sent on Saturday, were distributed to border units after reaching Hatay’s Hassa and Kirikhan districts, said Anadolu Agency correspondents on the scene.

People near the border could also be seen flying Turkish flags from their homes.

On Saturday, Turkish security forces hit several PYD/PKK targets in Afrin, along Turkey’s border with northern Syria, to prevent a "terror corridor" from forming along the border.

An Afrin operation is expected to follow Turkey's successful seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield, which ended in March 2017.

On Sunday the U.S.-led coalition in Syria controversially announced it was working with the SDF -- a group dominated by the terrorist PYD/PKK -- to set up and train a Syrian border protection force.

Turkey has long protested U.S. support for the PYD/PKK, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, and its military wing the YPG, while Washington has called it a "reliable ally" in its fight against Daesh in Syria.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU, the PKK has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, with a death toll of some 40,000 people.


#Syria
#Turkey's southern Hatay province