Turkey is building a military presence along the border with Syria, raising concerns of a large-scale incursion into the territory, currently held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Force with U.S. support.
The forces include militia fighters, uniformed commandos, and artillery in large numbers that are concentrated near Kobani, a Kurdish-majority city on the northern Syria-Turkey border.
Bashar al-Assad’s regime fall, earlier in the month, has led to increased operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces, which Turkey views as being linked directly to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
The increase echoes 2019 Turkish military moves before their invasion into, northeast Syria, with one U.S. official saying that a cross-border operation could be fast approaching.
Another of the officials reported that the U.S was “focused on it and pressing for restraint”.
An official from the Syrian Kurds’ civilian administration, Ilham Ahmed, has this week urged President-elect Donald Trump to place pressure on stopping Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from having troops cross the border
In a letter Trump reportedly wrote that “if Turkey proceeds with its invasion, the consequences will be catastrophic”.