Turkey Says Needs No Permission for North Syria Military Operation

Turkish forces in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria (Archive - Reuters)
Turkish forces in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria (Archive - Reuters)
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Turkey Says Needs No Permission for North Syria Military Operation

Turkish forces in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria (Archive - Reuters)
Turkish forces in the countryside of Manbij, northern Syria (Archive - Reuters)

In a Thursday meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish National Security Council discussed ongoing preparations for a possible military operation in northern Syria. This followed Ankara’s announcement that it won’t wait for anyone’s “permission” to protect its southern borders.

“Turkey cannot stand idly in Syria,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday in a televised interview, adding that the operation in the Levantine country could start overnight.

The comments from Cavusoglu came two days after a summit in Tehran at which both Russia and Iran urged against Turkey’s proposed new campaign in northern Syria.

Since May, Erdogan has been talking about Turkey’s plans to launch a new military operation in Syria against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in an effort to link up two areas already under Turkish control in the northern region near the Turkish border.

Erdogan said the aim is to create a 30-km safe zone along the Turkish border with Syria.

Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU. The PKK has been rebelling against the Turkish government for over 30 years.

Erdogan also stressed that the troops of the US should leave the western side of the Euphrates, and this was the common understanding of the last summit with the Russian and Iranian leaders.

Turkey was in the same opinion because it believed that the US was giving support to the “terrorist organizations there,” he said.

“Since America is harboring terrorist organizations and we are fighting against these terrorist organizations, our work will be easier if it withdraws from there or if it does not harbor these terrorist organizations,” Erdogan added.

“The file of the new military operation in northern Syria will remain on our agenda until our national security concerns are dispelled,” the Turkish president told his National Security Council.

Erdogan pointed out that the YPG, the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), believes in vain that it can deceive the Turkish army by raising the Syrian regime's flag over its positions in northern Syria.



Israeli Strikes Kill 17 People In Gaza, Nearly all of Them Women or Kids

Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Israeli Strikes Kill 17 People In Gaza, Nearly all of Them Women or Kids

Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian children walk past the rubble of houses, destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza killed at least 17 people late Tuesday, nearly all of them women or children, the territory’s Health Ministry and hospital officials said.
Five kids were killed as they sheltered together in the same tent, said Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children's ward at nearby Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Their bodies were among the eight children and five women brought to the hospital after strikes on tents, homes and a vehicle. Two bodies were unidentifiable, The Associated Press said.
The Israeli military said it targeted militants who had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, without providing evidence. Israel said it took steps to lessen the risk of hurting civilians and blamed Hamas for the civilian casualties.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is raging with no end in sight, although there has reportedly been recent progress in long-running talks aimed at a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Some Palestinians in the Gaza Strip still have hope the war will end soon. Issam Saqr, a displaced man from Khan Younis, told The Associated Press he hopes the ceasefire “will happen today — before tomorrow!”