Turkey bombs Iraq-Syria border ahead of offensive, official
Turkey said it’s military struck the border of Iraq and Syria to prevent Kurdish forces from using the route to reinforce northeastern Syria.
Turkish officials told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that it is ready to advance into northeastern Syria after the United States started to pull back troops from the region.
The strike, according to a Turkish official, was to cut off a transit route between Syria and Iraq that is often used by Kurdish forces “before the operation in Syria.”
“In this way, the group’s transit to Syria and support lines, including ammunition, are shut off,” the official told the news outlet.
The Kurdish fighters, who are known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), aided the United States in defeating ISIS in Syria. But the Turkish government views them as a terrorist insurgency linked to the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
On Monday, President Donald Trump said the troop pullback was to stop U.S. involvement in the “endless wars” in the Middle East.