BEIRUT (AP) — The Turkish foreign minister says his country is ready to battle Syrian government troops if they enter an enclave in northern Syria to protect Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke on Monday in Jordan’s capital, Amman, as Syrian state media reported that pro-Syrian government forces will begin entering the Afrin enclave “within hours,” after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia in control of the region.
The official Syrian news agency SANA said the forces will deploy in Afrin to “bolster” local forces in confronting Turkish “aggression.” This suggested the Syrian government and Kurdish fighters — a militia known as YPG militia — have struck a deal under which the government forces would help repel an ongoing Turkish offensive on the enclave.
The Turkish minister says that “if the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers.”