Turkey Deploys Armored Vehicles Closer To Syrian Border - Reports

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Turkey Deploys Armored Vehicles Closer to Syrian Border - Reports

The Turkish military is reinforcing its troops stationed in the province of Kilis on the Syrian border with armored vehicles, local media reported on Thursday.

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2018) The Turkish military is reinforcing its troops stationed in the province of Kilis on the Syrian border with armored vehicles, local media reported on Thursday.

According to NTV broadcaster, armored vehicles are reaching the Syrian border following a statement made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that Ankara will launch a new military operation in Syria within days to free the east of the Euphrates from the US-backed Kurdish militia.

Turkey and the United States have had tense relations in recent years, in part due to Ankara's concerns over US support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), viewed by the Turkish authorities as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Turkey has been claiming that the YPG presence near its border hampers its national security. Earlier this year, it conducted an offensive against the Kurdish militia in Syria's northern border city of Afrin. Ankara is also currently engaged in an operation to eliminate Kurdish strongholds in northern Iraq.