"Spring of Peace" .. An imminent Turkish military operation in northern Syria after the escalation of the dispute with Washington

Adnan Hussein - Syrian-Turkish border

Huge military reinforcements for Turkish troops stationed in the Turkish state of Urfa near the Syrian city of Tal Abyad arrived on Saturday, including armored vehicles dedicated to mine clearance, military bulldozers, and dozens of other vehicles from tanks, a troop carrier and elements, after raising the maximum alert on the border, according to military sources of the island.

The military reinforcements coincided with the escalation of Turkish statements against the complacency of the United States of America and procrastination in the implementation of the agreement "safe zone", agreed by the parties on August 7, which was one of the items was scheduled to enter Turkish forces and receive a partnership with US forces The administration of the region, however, did not happen, which prompted Ankara to repeatedly threaten a military operation unilaterally to remove the threat from the SDF, which is dominated by the YPG, which Ankara considers the Syrian branch of the PKK.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that his country was ready to carry out a military operation east of the Euphrates in Syria, and that the date of this operation is soon.

Erdogan said that Turkey was tired of promises and procrastination by the United States, and that it would take this process and eliminate the presence of terrorist organizations on its borders, as he put it.

Informed sources from the Syrian armed opposition said that the Turkish forces are about to launch a military operation targeting the incursion inside the Syrian border, and control of the center of the Syrian city of Tal Abyad, and deployment in its surroundings at a distance of about ten kilometers as an initial stage of the operation, to be followed by other stages in order to establish the area. Safe and expel the SDF from them.

The sources pointed out that the forces participating in the military operation are mostly from the Turkish army, with limited participation of the opposition factions, especially those who received military training from the Turkish forces, accompanied the Turkish army and its movement inside the eastern Euphrates areas, and Turkish security officials held intensive secret meetings with notables and leaders of military factions. From the cities of Tall Abyad, Ras al-Ain and Deir Ezzor from the eastern Euphrates, they reside in Urfa, Turkey to coordinate the military operation.

Operation "Spring of Peace"
In the same context, a Turkish military source confirmed that the operation, which may be called "spring of peace" may start during the next two days, after a deadline given to the United States during the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Turkish capital, which Ankara stipulated that Washington must either start troops Turkish entry into the east of the Euphrates with the complete withdrawal of terrorist organizations in all its forms, details and weapons and US-Turkish coordination, or to enter Turkey individually implement the agreement on the safe area.

The source pointed out that the equipment has been fully, and the existing forces took all their preparations after the development of a tight plan, where it will be an air ground operation targeting sites and routes to supply the terrorist organization, and parts of the separation barrier with Syria near Tel Abyad, and near the city of Ain al-Arab (Kobani), to be carried out through two campaigns: one targeting areas of limited depth, and the other aimed at drying out the main cities where the terrorist organizations are based, as he described.

Mehmet Mesto, Syria's senior correspondent for the Anatolia news agency, says Turkish troops' entry into the east of the Euphrates is inevitable. There are two possibilities: either through a military operation or in coordination with the United States. Turkey appears to have given Washington a last chance if it does not respond to its demand for a physical presence in the region.

Misto confirms that the operation will be through two phases: the first to control the cities of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain near the Syrian border, while the second phase will control areas deep in the city of Qamishli, expecting that there will be no violent military confrontations; the fact that the Turkish forces have full coordinates and locations of protection units The Kurdish people, and that the US forces will not rub with the Turkish forces, but perhaps there is a formula to ensure the existence of military bases in coordination between the parties.

Mesto points out that Turkey's national security in the first place is the first reason for this operation, after the YPG, which is affiliated organically with the PKK, gained strength in recent years, allowing it to form a semi-state that could in the future become a base for attacks. In addition to the violation of the terms of the agreement by the Kurdish units and the continuation of tunneling operations and laying military reinforcements at night within the cities, which has been documented over the past few days, Turkey must blackmail and blackmail them.

The second reason - according to Misto - is to ensure the voluntary return of refugees to a safe area where Turkey has a key role, and this will reduce the burden of refugees, having exceeded the number of three and a half million Syrians.

The Turkish moves, which predict a military operation east of the Euphrates in light of the escalating tension between Ankara and Washington over the safe area, and under Russian support for Turkish movements in order to protect its security.