Turkey would like to expand the security zone it has successfully established in Northern Syria, after removing Islamic State from al-Bab, but its options appear limited.
- Turkey has successfully removed Islamic State forces from all areas in Syria along its border, creating a security zone in Northern Syria, which it would like to expand.
- However, Turkey has come up against Russian, US and Syrian forces on all its active fronts in Syria, none of whom it can feasibly move against
- Russia and the US are opposed to Turkey moving against Kurdish forces and appear willing to prevent this.
Turkey now occupies a chunk of Northern Syria and is imbedded physically in that country’s messy conflict. Yesterday a Turkish soldier was killed at Reyhanli on the Syrian border reportedly from sniper fire coming from Kurdish-controlled Afrin across the border. The incident reinforces the urgency with which Turkey views its Syria objectives. Turkey shelled the area in…
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Photo credit: GPP Review
23 March 2017