A Turkish official source confirmed to Al-Jazeera that Turkey has completed all the military and logistical preparations necessary to implement the possible ground operation in northern Syria, referring to information about the withdrawal of US forces from some locations.
The source said that the goal of the first phase of the military operation is to control Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ayn al-Arab Kobani, which are currently controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units, which are the main component of what is known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The same source stated that the Russian side was informed that Turkey did not accept what it called the formal deployment of the Syrian regime forces in the "Syrian Democratic Forces" areas.
The Turkish source added that his country stressed to the Russian side the necessity of dissolving the "Syrian Democratic Forces" or removing them from the areas of Russian influence in northern Syria.
With regard to the United States and its presence in the region, the Turkish source told Al-Jazeera that the American side showed its understanding of the Turkish demands, and added that the information available to Turkey indicates that the Americans withdrew from some sites.
The source confirmed that the military operations will be carried out accurately and without any threat to the safety of the American and Russian forces, as he put it.
For his part, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the ground military operation may begin at any time according to what the priorities determine, and that the matter depends on the evaluation of the concerned references, as he put it.
Kalin stressed that Turkey has not yet targeted any American or Russian soldiers, and that its only target is the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
The Turkish spokesman stated that Ankara is calling for the Kurdish units to be in areas 30 km from the Turkish border, and to stop trying to infiltrate into Turkey.
Kalin believed that the Turkish military operations blocked the establishment of a "terrorist corridor" from the Iraqi border to the Mediterranean.