Turkish Defense Minister Khulosi Akar said on Thursday that the time had come to implement the military operation in Manbaj and east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, adding that the Turkish armed forces are working intensively in this regard.
In a statement during his visit to the Turkish military base in Doha, the Turkish minister confirmed his country's determination to "bury terrorists in the trenches they dug themselves in these areas," referring to PKK fighters.
As for the situation in northern Iraq, Akar said: "We are always following the movements of terrorists there, and we have recently carried out air raids on Sinjar and Qara Jag regions."
The minister also said that "terrorists" had been eliminated in those areas without harming civilians as a result of last week's Turkish air strikes.
Yesterday, the Pentagon announced that it had begun withdrawing its troops from Syria as the United States moved to a new stage in the campaign against the organization of the Islamic state.
The White House also announced in a statement that it had begun sending troops home to move on to the next phase of the campaign against state organization.