AMN
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to expand his country’s offensive in Syria against a Kurdish militia, despite rising concern and calls for restraint from the US and other Western allies.
In the seventh day of the operation against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, Erdogan vowed to “clean up” the Syrian city of Manbij.
The United States has raised concerns over the deadly offensive, and analysts say direct military conflict between the two NATO powers is possible since the US has a military presence in Manbij. While the YPG is still working closely with Washington against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria, Ankara views the YPG as a terror organisation allied to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) inside Turkey.
The PKK is blacklisted by Ankara and its Western allies as a terror outfit.