The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced last Saturday the start of operations by the Ankara army and the allied Syrian militias (FSA) in Afrin and, subsequently, in Manbij, against the positions of the YPG, party militias Democratic Union (Pyd), a Syrian Kurdish formation that is part of the opposition to the government of Damascus.
The operation, called "Olive branch", comes after days of tension and gun battles on the Turkish-Syrian border. At the origin of the tensions, there is the US initiative to form a military force on the Turkish-Syrian border, a contingent that, according to Ankara, would involve the YPG, which would constitute a threat to Turkey's security.
As known, the Turkish authorities consider the Pyd and Ypg groups, supported by the United States, as terrorist groups linked to the Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK), which has long been engaged in a separatist struggle with Turkey.
The Turkish offensive on the Kurdish-Syrian enclave of Afrin aroused a reaction, albeit moderate, from Washington which, through Tillerson's mouth, declared: “we are concerned about the Turkish incidents in northern Syria. We fully recognize Turkey's legitimate right to protect its citizens from terrorist elements that could launch attacks against Turkish citizens in Turkish territory from Syria ”,… we urge all parties to exercise restraint and minimize the impact on civilians”.