Turkey opened a new front in Syria’s war on Saturday, launching air strikes against a US-backed Kurdish militia in Afrin province. On land, the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebels were also helping the operation in Afrin, a senior Turkish official said. The YPG’s growing strength across large parts of northern Syria has alarmed Ankara, which fears the creation of an independent Kurdish state on its southern border. Syrian Kurdish leaders say they seek autonomy as part of Syria, not secession. But the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces – which the YPG spearheads – accused Turkey of using cross-border shelling as a false pretext to launch an offensive in Syria.

Source: The Irish Times January 20, 2018 15:22 UTC