Turkey’s ground assault against an American-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria threatens a further deterioration in relations with the United States, a key NATO partner, according to several regional experts.
President Tayyip Erdogan warned Wednesday that Turkey would expand its military offensive to the Syrian town of Manbij, where the Pentagon maintains Special Operations troops who are partnered with Kurdish forces that dominate the city.
The Turkish offensive, now in its fifth day in the Kurdish-led Afrin enclave, seeks to oust from the area the U.S.-allied People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Ankara regards as an element of a militant Kurdish group that has pursued a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
BREAKING:
BREAKING: Germany asks NATO to hold immediate meeting over Afrin – @BarzanSadiq
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) January 25, 2018
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