Turkey's Military Operation in Syria May Be Expanded to East of Euphrates - PM

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that a military operation in northern Syria could be expanded to the east of the Euphrates River if terrorists did not leave the area.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — On August 24, the Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

"We are currently talking about the western bank of the Euphrates River, though, if terrorists continue operating to the east of the river, we will take relevant measures there," Yildirim said, addressing a Turkish parliamentary fraction.

Ankara pledged to continue the operation until the threat allegedly posed by Kurdish militants active in the area is eliminated.

At the same time, the Turkish troops are trying to prevent the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), considered by Ankara to be a terror group allied to the domestically-outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), from creation of a corridor with another Kurdish enclave near the Turkish border.

Syrian Kurds and Damascus have accused Ankara of violating the territorial integrity of the country. In September, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Syrian Kurdish militia would become a target for Turkey's army unless they move east of the Euphrates.