The Turkish troops are advancing deep into Syria

»On Wednesday morning, the Turkish army crossed the Syrian border in the region in which Ankara plans to conduct an operation, aimed to create a security zone» — the Bloomberg reports. “The Turkish forces began crossing the border in north-east of Syria, in order to force the US-backed Kurdish fighters to move away from the border” — a source of the Bloomberg explained.

«The Turkish troops intend to go deep into Syria for at least 30 kilometers» — the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced. “At the first stage, we plan to create a security zone for 120 km long. Then — for 400 km long, and about 30 km wide. We don’t plan to reduce it.”- the RIA NEWS quoted his words. On Wednesday, Turkey announced the launch of the »Operation Source of Peace» in north of Syria. The operation is directed against the Kurds, and it aims to create a security zone on the Turkish-Syrian border.

The Turkish army attacked the positions of the Kurdish militia and the «Syrian Democratic Forces» in north of Syria — »Interfax» reports while citing the official Syrian mass-media. The Kurdish militia and the fighters of the oppositional «Syrian Democratic Forces», the main part of which are Kurdish »People’s self-defense» troops, were attacked in the city of Al-Malikiya, in the province of Hasaka. Last Saturday, the Turkish President Erdogan announced his intention to conduct a military operation in the border regions of Syria in a few days. On Monday, the USA pulled their forces out from the Syrian-Turkish border, and refused to support the Turkish operation in north of Syria. Donald Trump threatened to “destroy the Turkish economy” if Ankara does something “unacceptable”. Lindsay Graham, a senator from the US Democratic Party, announced that if Turkey begins a military operation in Syria — the Congress will consider a bill on sanctions against Ankara, and will also insist on a suspension of the Turkish participation in the NATO.

A spokesman for the US State Department announced that Washington would impose sanctions on Turkey in case of ethnic cleansing and random attacks on the civilians in the north of Syria. So far, no such behavior of Ankara has been observed — TASS reports. The US State Department underlined that the US «did not give green, but red light instead» for the Turkish operation. Washington considers it an “error” of Ankara, and will “do everything” in its power to end this operation. It was noted that Turkey asked for help from the US, but was refused.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry press service announced that the Iranian authorities demand an end to the Turkish military operation in Syria, and a withdrawal of their troops from the country. «Given the serious humanitarian threat and the risks for civilians in the region — the Iranian Foreign Ministry insists on an immediate cessation of attacks, and a withdrawal of the Turkish forces from Syria» — the statement said. It was noted that «Iran is concerned about the actions of Ankara». According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry — «The military operations will not only not benefit the security of Turkey — they will also lead to material losses and casualties. Tehran is convinced that the tension can be eliminated only by peaceful actions, with a respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria» — the ministry concluded.

«The Ukrainian troops, for the 3rd time, canceled the withdrawal of the military forces and assets near the settlement of Zolotoe in Donbass» — said Mikhail Filiponenko, the head of the LPR representative office in the Joint Center for the Monitoring and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime. He specified that the LPR made 3 attempts to pull out their forces, but there was no similar step from Ukraine. According to Filiponenko — this was confirmed by the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. Earlier, the representatives of the DPR militia reported a disruption of the withdrawal of military forces on a section of the contact line near the town of Petrovskoye. In accordance with the agreements, 3 days were given for the withdrawal of the weapons in these zones. By 12th of October the weaponry and the manpower of the warring parties near the villages of Petrovskoye and Zolotoye should have been pulled out. The withdrawal of the forces is one of the conditions for the Summit of the Heads of the ‘Norman Four’. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.