Spotlight: Turkey extends operation to face challenges in northern Syria

Turkey has sent more tanks and other military equipment into northern Syria for an extended operation, signaling its readiness to wade deeper into the raging war in the neighboring country to confront challenges on the ground, analysts said.

Some 20 tanks and a number of armored vehicles rolled into the northern Syrian town of al-Rai, in what the state-run Anadolu Agency described as a "new phase" in Operation Euphrates Shield launched on Aug. 24, in which the Islamic State (IS) was driven from the Syrian border town of Jarablus.

Al-Rai fell last week under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a rebel group backed by Turkey, as the town had changed hands multiple times during the past months in battles with the IS.

In the wake of Jarablus' capture, the offensive's second aim is to secure al-Rai and connect the FSA-held territories of Azaz and Jarablus, the English-language Daily Sabah said.

"Once this goal is achieved, the third target will likely be to push Daesh terrorists further south to al Bab," the daily noted, using IS' Arabic name.

Soon after capturing Jarablus, the Turkish military started to hit positions of the rebel Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by the People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), sparking concern in Washington and other parts of the world.

Ankara sees the YPG and PYD as offshoots of its home-grown Kurdistan Workers' Party, which was labeled as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union for its decades-old armed struggle for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.

Washington regards the YPG as effective forces on the ground in the fight against the IS.

In the view of Abdullah Agar, a security analyst and writer, Turkey is now engaged in a struggle for existence against terror groups as well as the powers behind them.

"Today the epicenter of that fight is Jarablus operation, which is small in terms of its operatives but important in terms of its public diplomacy, its context and effects," he told Xinhua.

The ultimate goal of Ankara is now believed to curb the advances of the SDF in northern Syria, which had aimed to control a territory that would connect the Kurdish cantons of Afrin and Kobani through Jarablus and Azaz along the Turkish border.

Analysts argued that after the fall of Jarablus, the YPG would now try to establish that connection through Manbij, Al-Bab and southern Mare.

The establishment of such a corridor in northern Syria, which would strengthen the hands of Kurdish groups to launch a Kurdish state in the region, is the biggest fear of Turkey.

"Ankara will never allow the establishment of a Kurdish 'terror corridor' in northern Syria," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the press on Thursday.

With such a corridor established, Turkey's ties with the Middle East, in particular with the Arab world, will be cut, warned Agar.

According to Hasan Selim Oztertem, a security and energy analyst, two key issues -- international reactions and the realities in the field -- will determine Turkey's next moves in Syria.

"If necessary, Turkey would move towards further south," he said. "But before taking such a step, Turkey will of course stop and discuss the matter with its partners."

In the view of Taha Akyol, a columnist, the operation has apparently reached a "delicate diplomatic stage."

"Euphrates Shield has demonstrated the FSA could be successful when supported, making it a better fighting force against the IS than the PYD," Akyol wrote.

He noted, however, that Turkey's operation should not be expected to cover a broad area, as this development could cause military problems and the diplomatic climate might suddenly deteriorate.

As Washington urged Turkey and the Kurdish forces not to fight each other, Russia and Iran had also voiced their concerns, with Moscow calling on Ankara to avoid attacking any ethnic groups while Tehran demanding an end to the campaign. Endit