Small Wars Journal

Turkish Jets Pound Kurdish Militia in New Syria Offensive

Sat, 01/20/2018 - 7:19pm

Turkish Jets Pound Kurdish Militia in New Syria Offensive by Bulent Kilic, Stuart Williams and Fulya Ozerkan – Agence France-Press

Turkey on Saturday launched a new air and ground operation to oust a Kurdish militia from their northern Syrian enclave, defying US warnings that the action risked further destabilising the area after almost seven years of civil war.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had repeatedly vowed that Turkey would root out the "nests of terror" in Syria of the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia which Turkey deems a terror organisation.

The launch came despite warnings that the operation could be militarily tough against an already battle-hardened foe and complicate relations with both Washington and Moscow.

Turkey's army said operation "Olive Branch" began at 1400 GMT and was aimed at the YPG and Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

Among the targets hit was the YPG-held Minnigh military airport north of Aleppo, the army said.

It said 108 targets were struck and that all casualties were Kurdish militants…

Read on.