Turkey started a planned military attack under the name “Operation Peace Spring” in northeastern Syria on Wednesday to eradicate “against PKK/YPG and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on twitter. The Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring against PKK/YPG and Daesh terrorists in northern Syria. Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area.— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) October 9, 2019 Turkey sees the YPG or Kurdish People’s Protection Units as a terrorist group affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who battled the Turkish state for three decades. “Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area,” Erdogan added. He highlighted that this operation “will neutralize terror threats against Turkey and lead to the establishment of a safe zone, facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homes. We will preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists.” Several residents of Tal Abyad and Ras Al Ain began to flee…
