Erdogan: US Should Leave Manbij as Turkey Wants to Return It to 'Its Owners'
In January, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara would not limit its precautionary measures against Kurdish fighters to Syria’s Afrin but could move to Manbij, where the US has some 2,000 of its military personnel deployed.
“If the United States says they are sending 5,000 trucks and 2,000 cargo planes with weapons for the fight against Daesh (Islamic State), we don’t believe this. It means you have calculations against Turkey and Iran, and maybe Russia,” Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in parliament.
On February 5, the Pentagon announced that it had seen no indication of Turkey planning to extend its operation to Manbij, which contradicts Turkish officials’ previous statements. Both Cavusoglu and Erdogan emphasized that Turkish forces would completely clear the region of terrorists, beginning with Manbij and throughout Turkey-Syria border.
Read More | (Video ) : Massive reinforcements arrive in Afrin from Manbij
Earlier in the day, footage showing a Turkish military convoy arriving in southern Aleppo, closer to the Tahrir al-Sham terrorist organization’s stronghold, appeared on the web. Among the 50 vehicles were armored personnel carriers (APCs), fuel tankers, mini-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs) and military trucks.
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