The report indicates that the US is preparing an offensive on Raqqa in tandem with the Kurdish forces which helped to liberate Manbij from Daesh last month.
Although Turkey is engaged in its own military operation in northern Syria, on Thursday Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told TRT television that if Kurdish fighters take part in the Raqqa operation, Turkey will refuse involvement.
"Negotiations are still ongoing, there is nothing certain yet. Our principled stance is the same as it was with Manbij and Jarablus. It is out of the question for us to take part in an operation in which the PYD/YPG are present," Kalin said.
Political analyst Serhat Erkmen, director of the Center of Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) at Istanbul-based 21st Century Turkey Institute, told Sputnik Turkiye that the conflict between the US and Turkey on the Kurdish issue threatens to undermine the operation.
"The Americans have been trying for a long time to persuade Turkey to work with Kurdish forces in the operation to liberate Raqqa. However, it's impossible. Turkey won't agree to that, given that Ankara regularly calls the Syrian Kurdish PYD 'an offshoot of the PKK,'" Erkmen said.
Last month the US cooperated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of militias led by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD, to liberate the town of Manbij from Daesh.
Erkmen said that the US and Turkish differences on the Kurdish question have been particularly evident since Turkey launched its own military operation in northern Syria, called "Euphrates Shield," on August 24. In his opinion, such disagreements make a joint operation in Raqqa unlikely in the near future.
The Turkish government said the Euphrates Shield operation aims to assist the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in its offensive against Daesh at the town of Jarabulus, and also contain the expansion of US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria following the liberation of Manbij.
"All these complicated relationships between the regional players significantly lessen the chances of an operation to free Raqqa in the near future. There aren't any concrete agreements on this issue, at the moment all the talk about an operation in Raqqa is a part of the bidding process between the major players in the Syrian process," Erkmen said.
The city of Raqqa became the Daesh terror group's capital in Syria after it was captured in 2014. The other main city under Daesh control is Mosul in Iraq, where Iraqi forces are also preparing an operation to retake the city.
Erkmen warned that Turkey's Euphrates Shield operation looks unlikely to be a short-lived intervention because the Daesh terrorist group is a difficult opponent which has built up a lot of experience in warfare in recent years.
"From the beginning of the Turkish operation it was clear that it won't end in a week or two, despite the triumphant mood of the Turkish authorities after the liberation of Jarabulus."
"As the Turkish troops move south towards al-Bab the situation on the front line will get more complicated, it's possible that the Turkish army will suffer much more serious losses than at the beginning of the operation. Let's not forget that the operation is being carried out in a tricky border area, and also that Turkey has to balance between fighting Daesh and countering Kurdish militias," Erkmen said.
