In the afternoon, Turkish troops crossed the border into Syria to begin a long-promised offensive against the Kurds. This happened after a small American force that was in the area was abruptly called home.
Tomas Thorén, SVT's envoy, is on site in Turkey near the border with Syria.
- As expected, it is at the border crossing at Akcakale that one has chosen to enter Syria. That means going into the middle of the land strip that the Kurds check and tearing it in the middle of, ”he says and continues:
- There are also Arabs in the area, so the Turkish forces hope to get a better reception.
" A disaster for the Kurds"What does this mean for the Kurds?
- It's a disaster. This poses a threat to the civilian population. Then it means that it looks dark for the Kurds' dream of building a state, something that they have devoted themselves to for a couple of years.
According to Tomas Thorén, there is a fear of ethnic cleansing, even though Turkey has announced that it will avoid civilian targets.
- This is important for the Turks because they do not want these Kurdish forces to cement this state building.
In addition, it hopes to create a buffer zone that will allow Turkey to send back the large number of Syrian refugees present in Turkey, he explains.