The Turkish offensive on the Syrian border continues Monday (October 14th). Turkish forces and their local allies, former rebels who fought against Bashar al-Assad's regime at the start of the war, conquered a 120-kilometer-long territorial strip from the border town of Tall Abyad to west of Ras al-Ain.
To counter the advance of Turkish forces, Syrian pro-government forces have deployed south of Ras al-Ain, on the outskirts of Tal Tamr, where their arrival has been hailed by locals, an AFP correspondent said. .
Units of the Syrian army approached up to 6 km from the border, the NGO added. Tanks arrived near Manbij, and near the towns of Tabqa and Ain Issa.
Opposition of the United Kingdom
In this context, the EU foreign ministers on Monday (October 14th) condemned the Turkish military operation in northern Syria. But member countries have failed to agree on an arms embargo against Turkey because of opposition from the United Kingdom, diplomatic sources said.
They simply pledged to "take firm national positions on their arms export policy to Turkey," the statement said. The fact that this country is a member of NATO has been advanced as an argument by the United Kingdom to reject the embargo.
France stops arms sales
Italy, one of Turkey's main arms suppliers, on Sunday called for a "European moratorium on arms sales" to this country. For their part, Germany and France announced Saturday that they were stopping sales of weapons "likely to be used" by Ankara as part of its offensive.
The EU has called for "a ministerial meeting of the international coalition against Daesh (the Islamic State Jihadist group) to consider how to continue its efforts in the current context". Turkey and the United States are members of this coalition, which fought against the Kurds targeted by the military operation launched by Ankara.
With AFP