UPDATE: The Kurdish media deny the reports.
However, a video has surfaced showing what allegedly is the distruction of a Kurdish convoy by the THK.
#Turkey air force bombed a convoy bringing support to #YPG via the Semalka border crossing that links #Syria to Iraq. pic.twitter.com/Z5WH23lQik
— Ali Özkök (@Ozkok_A) October 7, 2019
Earlier today, the U.S. effectively shuted down Northern Syria airspace to Turkey, according to Pentagon statement to Anadolu.
Turkey has been expelled from Joint Air Operations Center and surveillance and reconnaissance data aren’t shared with Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on 5 October that Ankara could launch a military operation in neighbouring Syria, east of the Euphrates River, in the coming days in order to clear the border area of Kurdish militants and create a security zone, as well as accommodate Syrian refugees.
Turkish combat aircraft performed an airstrike against a Kurdish SDF base in Syria’s Hasakah province, according to local media reports.
Earlier, Erdogan stressed that a security zone is needed in order to counter “terror threats” coming from the Kurdish PKK party and Syrian Kurdish YPG forces, adding that it would allow for the return of Syrian refugees.
Meanwhile, Washington, which used to support the Kurdish forces in northern Syria, has started to withdraw its troops from the area. The White House said it would not “support or be involved in” Turkey’s operation.
On 7 August, Turkey and the United States agreed to create a safe zone in northern Syria after months of tensions between the two countries over the presence of Kurdish militants in the region. Later in August, Erdogan warned that his country could launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria if Washington would fail to meet Ankara’s conditions for a safe zone.
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