Turkey strikes Syria-Iraq border in preparation for attack after US pull-out
- Military is seeking to prevent Kurdish forces from using route to reinforce northeast Syria
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Turkey’s military struck the Syrian-Iraqi border to prevent Kurdish forces using the route to reinforce northeast Syria, as Ankara prepared to attack there after a surprise US troop pullback, Turkish officials said on Tuesday.
Turkey says it is ready to advance into northeast Syria now that the United States has begun withdrawing troops from the Turkey-Syria frontier in an abrupt policy shift by US President Donald Trump that has been widely criticised in Washington as a betrayal of America’s allies the Kurds.
The US move will leave Kurdish-led forces long allied to Washington vulnerable to attack by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), which brands them terrorists because of their links to Kurdish militants who have waged a long insurgency in Turkey.
Giving details of the overnight strike, a security official said one of the main goals was to cut off a transit route between Iraq and Syria often used by Kurdish armed groups “before the operation in Syria”.
“In this way, the group’s transit to Syria and support lines, including ammunition, are shut off,” the official said.
It was unclear what damage was done or whether there were casualties. Details of the strike, a joint operation by Turkey’s intelligence service and the military, were hazy. One official described them as an air strike, while the other said the site was made “unusable through various means”.