Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan announced that the Turkish military is going to create a 5,000-sq-km safe zone within Syria, expanding its operations against ISIS deeper into the Arab country.
“As part of the Euphrates Shield operation, an area of 900 sq km has been cleared of terror so far. This area is pushing south,” Reuters cites Erdogan. “We may extend this area to 5,000 sq km as part of a safe zone.”
Erdogan said that the Turkish forces are aiming to capture the ISIS-controlled town of Al-Bab, located in about 50km north-east of Aleppo city. This move is also clearly aimed against the Kurdish forces in Syria.
“Jarablus and Al-Rai have been cleansed, now we are moving towards Al-Bab… We will go there and stop [ISIS] from being a threat to us.”
Despite the fact that Turkish plans for safe or even no-fly zones in Syria have been questioned by the country’s allies, it seems that the Erdogan regime is set to continue operations inside the country.
