ANKARA, November 22. /TASS/. Turkey’s new land operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in northern Syria, which has been announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, could become the largest since 2015, Coskun Basbug, a Turkish security expert, said on Tuesday.
"The Turkish president has put an end to the debate over whether or not to have a ground operation. It is promising to be the largest operation Turkey has ever conducted in the region and it is unlikely to be confined to Syria’s border regions as it will stretch up to the Mediterranean," he said in an interview with the TRT television channel.
Erdogan said earlier that Turkey was planning another military operation in northern Syria to expand the 30-kilometer buffer zone established after Operation Peace Spring in October 2019. Ankara began its cross-border operation in the neighboring country in 2015.
According to Turkish mass media, the new operation is geared to take control of a 600-kilometer section of the border with Syria to minimize terrorist threats coming from that country. Ankara sees the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (outlawed in Turkey) and its Syrian arm, People's Defense Units, as the key threats to its national security. According to military sources, 50,000 Turkish soldiers and militants of the Ankara-backed Syrian armed opposition will be involved in the new operation.
Turkey’s previous operations in northern Syria have resulted in the establishment of a security zone between the cities of Azaz and Jerbalus north of Aleppo. Turkish troops occupied the city of Afrin and took control of border areas east of the Euphrates.
Turkey staged an air operation in northern Iraq and Syria in the early hours of November 20. More than 50 warplanes and 20 drones were involved in the operation. The Turkish defense ministry described it as successful. This cross-border operation was a response to the November 13 terror attack in Istanbul, which left six people dead and more than 80 injured. The Turkish authorities placed the blame for the incident on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and SDF’s People's Defense Units.