Türkiye denies US allegations regarding a ceasefire with Syrian Kurdish fighters | Syrian war news

Ankara has vowed to continue operations in northern Syria as fears grow of an attack on the Kurdish-controlled border city of Kobani.

Turkey responded to US claims that it had agreed to a ceasefire with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, vowing to continue working to expel them from the region – a military operation that began after the fall of former Syrian President Bashar. Lion.

On Thursday, a senior Turkish Defense Ministry official criticized this Claims US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller announced that the ceasefire brokered by Washington between Turkish-backed rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces around the Syrian city of Manbij has been extended until the end of this week.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are supported by Washington In its war against ISIS, Ankara considers it a “terrorist organization” and claims that it has links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been waging an armed insurgency for four decades on Turkish soil.

On Thursday, the Turkish official called Miller’s statement a “slip of the tongue,” saying it was “out of the question” for Turkey to talk to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group led by the YPG, which is seen as an extension of the PKK.

The official said: “Until the terrorist organization PKK/YPG is disarmed and its foreign fighters leave Syria, our preparations and actions will continue within the scope of the war against terrorism.”

Türkiye considers the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the People’s Protection Units, and the Syrian Democratic Forces to be “terrorist” groups. The United States and Türkiye’s Western allies also classify the PKK as a “terrorist”, but not the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The renewed fighting between Turkish-backed factions and Syrian Kurdish fighters comes after more than a week of fighters led by opposition factions. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Reporting from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Sinem Kosoglu said Turkey believes it is up to the new Syrian administration to remove “foreign fighters” – a reference to PKK members in the People’s Protection Units – from its territory.

“Turkey considers all those who belong to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party within the People’s Protection Units to be foreign fighters, and the Turkish Foreign Minister said that these foreign fighters… within the opposition factions must leave Syria, especially since there is a new Syrian administration and it is expected to establish a national army.” . She said.

She added that if the new administration is unable to remove foreign fighters from its lands, Türkiye will likely intervene.

The Turkish official’s comments came as concerns grew about a possible Turkish attack on the Kurdish-controlled Syrian border city of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, about 50 kilometers northeast of Manbij.

US President-elect Donald Trump described the overthrow of the Assad regime as a “tragic matter.”Unfriendly seizureBy Türkiye, which joined several opposition groups that led the lightning attack on Damascus.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Minister told Al Jazeera Hakan Fidan She rejected Trump’s statements, saying that it would be a “huge mistake” to describe the ongoing events in Syria as a takeover by Türkiye.