Erdogan's Aide Says Confrontation Between Armies Of Syria, Turkey Possible In North

ANTAKYA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2019) The Turkish army will stand up to the Syrian one in case of a military confrontation in north Syria, where Turkey's military operation against terrorists and Kurdish militia is underway, Yasin Aktay, the counselor to the Turkish president, told Sputnik on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the administration of the Kurdish authority in northern Syria announced striking a deal with the Syrian government under which the latter will send troops to the border with Turkey to help the Kurds repel Ankara's offensive.

"If the Syrian army, which so far has failed to defeat the [People's Protection Units] YPG terrorist organization that seeks to partition Syria and establish a separatist government, is ready to fight with the Turkish army and is capable of doing so - then go ahead," Aktay said.

According to Aktay, the military confrontation between the two armies in north-east Syria was a possibility.

He stressed, however, that the Syrian army "was not strong enough" to fight in the north and it better think twice before coming to the area and "complicating the situation there."

As for the agreement of the Syrian Kurds with Damascus, Aktay called it a "symbol of animosity in relation to Turkey" and reiterated that Ankara would not tolerate the presence of the Kurdish militia on its border with Syria.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch of Operation Peace Spring in north Syria. The air component of the operation has begun the same day in the Ras al-Ain town of Al Hasakah province, while the land operations have been launched shortly after. The Turkish offensive is part of Ankara's long-standing goal to clear its Syria-facing border area of the Islamic States terrorists (banned in Russia) and the Kurdish militia from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), whom Ankara designates as a single terrorist organization.

�The PKK/YPG seek to establish a Kurdish autonomous state, including in parts of Turkey, an aspiration that expectedly has met a strong confrontation in Ankara. Turkish security forces carry out regular anti-PKK raids both domestically and in neighboring Syria and Iraq. The idea of establishing a buffer safe zone as a solution to tensions between Turkey and the US-allied YPG militia was proposed by US President Donald Trump in January.

Erdogan has repeatedly warned that Ankara was ready to launch an offensive against the YPG if the safe zone talks get stalled any longer.