Turkey To Proceed With Syria Op Despite Warnings From US And Russia

Wires carrying comments from Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar stating that Ankara will proceed with a military operation against Kurdish forces in Northern Syria, in response to a terrorist attack in Istanbul last week, despite calls for restraint from the Kremlin and the Pentagon.

• It is currently unclear whether a Turkish operation will include a Turkish ground troops although Turkish President Recep Erdogan has threatened to use a military operation to establish a 30km buffer zone.
• In May, Erdogan said: “We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30km deep safe zone we established along our southern border.”
• Erdogan said today, per TRT: "We'll continue fighting terrorism within our border and beyond until threat is eliminated."
• The Jerusalem Post reported today: "...Akar told his Russian counterpart [Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu] in a call on Thursday that Ankara would continue responding to attacks from northern Syria, after Russia asked Turkey to refrain from a full-scale Syria offensive."
• The Pentagon warned yesterday that strikes against US-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria would endanger US troops and undermine years of progress combatting the Islamic State