Military launches operations into............>

TURKEY: Military launches operations into northeast Syria following US decision

to withdraw from the region. 

- Turkish army seeking to neutralise Kurdish forces that it sees as

indistinguishable from the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), against

which Ankara has waged a multi-year campaign. Ankara also states aim of

operation is to create 'safe zone' for millions of Syrian refugees that have

fled the civil war there. 

- US decision to withdraw met with staunch criticism from many allies in the

region, given the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) role in capturing

territory held by ISIS. Withdrawal of SDF from border area could allow ISIS

fighters held in prisons in the region to go free. 

- US President Trump had warned Turkey on Monday that he would "destroy and

obliterate" the country's economy if Ankara does anything he considers to be

"off limits" with regards to an assault on Kurdish-held territory in Syria.