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Turkey plans to fight Kurdish militia forces with Syrian opposition

Xinhua,January 16, 2018 Adjust font size:

ANKARA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkish military operation against Kurdish militia forces in Syria would be conducted with Syrian opposition groups.

Addressing his Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Erdogan reiterated Turkey's readiness to conduct operation against Kurdish militia forces in northern Syria.

"In a short span of time, we will destroy all terror nests, one by one, in Syria, starting from Afrin and Mambij regions," he said.

Asked if Syrian oppositions would be involved, he gave a positive response.

"Of course they will. This fight is made for them. We are helping our brothers there so that they can protect their own territories," Erdogan said.

Recently, Turkish has repeatedly slammed the United States over its plans to form a 30,000-strong border forces based on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey sees the YPG as the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara considers as a terrorist group, while the U.S. supports the YPG as its ally on the ground in combating the Islamic State in Syria. Enditem