President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday Turkey will soon launch a new military incursion against US-backed Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria.

Erdogan said the operation would extend the Turkish armed forces’ areas of control in Syria to a depth of 30 kilometers along the two countries’ shared border.

“The main target of these operations will be areas which are centers of attacks to our country and safe zones,” the Turkish president said today.

– The context: The threat comes as Erdogan’s government has hinted that it will block Sweden and Finland’s applications to join the NATO alliance, which were put forth last week in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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Ankara has issued several demands, including the extradition of alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from Sweden and the lifting of the two countries’ arms embargo against Turkey.

– Why it matters: Turkey in 2019 launched a bloody military incursion against the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian militia backed militarily by members of the US-led international coalition to defeat the Islamic State.