Turkish Officials Call Preparations Over, Land Attacks On Syria Can Immediately Start

Illustration of the United States and Turkey's military in Syria. (Wikimedia Commons/Staft Staff. Andrew Goedl)

JAKARTA - The Turkish army only needed a few days to be ready to carry out a ground attack on northern Syria and such a decision may have been taken at a cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish officials said, as Ankara forces bombarded Kurdish militias across the border.

The Howitzer fired daily from Turkey has attacked the Kurdish YPG target for a week, while warplanes have carried out airstrikes.

The escalation occurred after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul two weeks ago which Ankara accused was carried out by YPG militias.

Meanwhile, the YPG denied involvement in the bombing and sometimes responded to cross-border attacks with mortar firings.

"The Turkish Armed Forces only need a few days to be fully prepared," a senior official said, adding that Syrian rebel fighters allied with Turkey were ready for such an operation, just days after Istanbul's bombing.

"It will not take long for the operation to begin. It only depends on the president giving the order."

Turkey has previously launched a military offensive in Syria against the YPG, considering it a banned wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States, and the European Union have designated as terrorist groups.

The PKK also denied carrying out Istanbul's attack, in which six people died on crowded pedestrian roads.

Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would launch a land operation when it was comfortable to secure its southern border. He will chair a cabinet meeting at 15:30 local time.

"All preparations have been completed. Now a political decision," another Turkish official told Reuters, also asking for his name to be kept secret before the meeting.

President Erdogan said in May Turkey would soon launch a military operation against the YPG in Syria, but such an operation did not materialize at the time.

The first Turkish official said ground operations, targeting the Manbij, Kobani and Tel Rifat regions, were inevitable to connect territory under the control of Turkey and its Syrian allies with attacks since 2016.

Ankara has been in contact with Moscow and Washington about his military activities, the man added.

Meanwhile, the United States has said Turkey's NATO allies have serious concerns that escalation will affect the goal of fighting ISIS militants in Syria.

Meanwhile, Russia asked Turkey to refrain from full-scale ground attacks. They have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's 11-year war, while Ankara supports the rebels who are fighting to overthrow him.