ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish forces will enter the Syrian town of Manbij if the United States does not remove YPG Kurdish fighters, and it will also target Kurdish-controlled areas further east, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Erdogan said this week that Turkey would launch a new operation within days against the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia which controls swathes of Syria’s northern border region, in what will be Turkey’s third military campaign in Syria in two years. Ankara and Washington have long been at odds in Syria, where the United States has backed the YPG in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey says the YPG is a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). “Now we are saying that you should cleanse, remove them, or else we will enter Manbij.

Source: Egypt Independent December 14, 2018 10:18 UTC