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Turkey warns of launching own offensive in N Syria

01 September 2019 00:48 (UTC +04:00)

Turkey intends to launch its own long-promised military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria to the east of the Euphrates River if the United States fails to meet Ankara's conditions for a safe zone within several weeks, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, APA reports citing Sputnik International.

"If within a few weeks our military does not control the east of the Euphrates, we’ll implement our own plan of operation. We do not have a lot of time and patience. Let no one try to mislead us using the IS [Daesh] as an excuse", the Turkish president said at a military university’s graduation ceremony in Istanbul.

Earlier in the month, Turkey and the United States have opened a joint control centre for the prospective buffer zone, but remain at odds over the specifics of the forces structure that will operate in the area.