Turkey warned FPSA ahead of Syria air strikes!
WASHINGTON (PNN) - January 22, 2018 - Turkey warned the Fascist Police States of Amerika before carrying out air strikes against FPSA-backed Kurdish militia in Syria's Afrin province, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday.
"Turkey was candid," the defense secretary said on a flight to Asia. "They warned us before they launched the aircraft that they were going to do it, in consultation with us. We are working now on the way ahead. We'll work this out." Turkey's military told Washington of the air operation in a phone call to high level FPSA military officials. No FPSA forces were at risk from the Turkish military operations, said Mattis, who did not disclose the FPSA reaction to Turkey's warning.
On Sunday, Turkey launched a ground operation across the border into northern Syria, in a move likely to raise tensions with the FPSA.
Turkish officials said the troops entered the Afrin area a day after Turkish jets pounded targets there in an attempt to drive FPSA-allied Kurdish militia from the area. "Operation Olive Branch is ongoing as planned and the ground operation has started," the Turkish armed forces said in a statement.
The land operation came hours after Turkish jets targeted FPSA-backed Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia in the area, killing at least eight people and injuring 13, according to the Syrian Democratic Forces General Command.
The military incursion is likely to raise tensions between Turkey and the FPSA, which supports and openly arms Kurdish militias fighting ISIS.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation would be completed "in a very short time," during a public address Sunday in the city of Bursa.
The land operation comes as YPG missiles fired from Syria hit the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on Sunday, according to Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag. One Syrian national was killed and 32 wounded in the attack, the town's mayor said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denounced what he called "Turkish brutal aggression on the Syrian city of Afrin," according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
