Turkey denies reports Syria will succor YPG in Afrin

Turkey’s deputy prime minister has brushed aside as « false » media reports that Syrian authorities forces were poised to enter a Kurdish enclave in Syria’s Afrin.

Bekir Bozdag, then again, warned any toddle by Syrian soldiers to succor the Kurdish Of us’s Protection Fashions, or YPG, repel a Turkish offensive in northwestern Syria will be a « critical peril » for the distance.

Turkey will proceed its air and ground offensive against the YPG « with decision till the last terrorist is rendered ineffective », Bozdag told newshounds after a weekly cupboard meeting on Monday.

He changed into once responding to a story by the Syrian snarl-bustle SANA news company earlier in the day that said pro-authorities forces would enter Afrin « within a couple of hours to toughen its people’s stand against Turkish regime’s assault ». 

The story by SANA raised fears of a possible clash between Turkish troops and Syrian forces, that are backed by Russia and Iran.

SANA said the planned deployment followed an settlement between the Syrian authorities and the YPG.

Nonetheless a spokesman for the YPG denied agreeing on a deal with Damascus.

« There will not be any settlement. There is easiest a call from us for the Syrian military to advance in and shield the borders, » Nouri Mahmoud told Reuters news company behind on Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops pulled out of most of northern Syria in 2012 as nationwide protests against his rule spiraled into a civil battle.

The YPG, part of the US-backed umbrella organisation Syrian Democratic Forces, won succor watch over of astronomical swathes of territory in northern Syria at some stage right by an offensive against Islamic Notify of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

US toughen for the YPG has infuriated Turkey because it considers the group a « terrorist » organisation. Ankara sees YPG as part of the banned Kurdistan Worker’s Celebration (PKK), which has waged a a long time-long bloody riot against the Turkish snarl in southeastern ingredients of the country.

On January 20, Turkey opened a peculiar front in the long-running Syrian battle when it launched a critical offensive to expel YPG opponents from Afrin.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, speaking at a news convention in Amman, Jordan, said his country would hit encourage if Assad’s forces intervened in Afrin to succor the YPG.

« If the regime is entering to offer protection to the YPG, then nobody can end us, end Turkey or the Turkish soldiers, » he said.

Turkey’s snarl-bustle Anadolu news company on Monday reported President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held phone conversations with his Russian and Iranian counterparts regarding the most up-to-date traits in Afrin.

Russia’s stand would per chance per chance resolve how the battle plays out, said Kamran Matin, a lecturer on the Sussex College in the UK.

« Loads depends upon the info of this settlement [between the Syrian government and the Kurds] and whether or no longer or no longer Russia is on board, » he told Al Jazeera.

« If Russia is indeed supporting this deployment, that formulation it would act in defence of its ally in case of an assault by Turkish forces on Syrian forces in Afrin. Or more with out bid, it’ll shut the air home for the Turkish air power to feature, which would develop any military operation by Turkey very refined because it is the gracious air power that has given them the brink in Afrin. »

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Russia are situation to meet in Istanbul, Turkey’s greatest metropolis, on March 14.