US opposes any Turkish offensive in northern Syria- US Secretary of State

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that any escalation there in northern would be opposed by the US and  it would put the region at risk.

This came  in a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the State Department.

On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is preparing for a new military operation in northern Syria to establish a 30-km deep safe zone along its southern border.

“The concern that we have is that any new offensive would undermine regional stability (and) provide malign actors with opportunities to exploit instability,” Blinken said.

Blinken urged Turkey to stick to cease-fire lines established in 2019.

Following the Turkish “Peace Spring” military operation in October 2019, which resulted in the occupation of the two cities of Tel Abyad, north of Raqqa, and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), north of Hasakah, Turkey signed two ceasefire agreements, one with Russia and the other with the US.

The agreements stipulate halt of all hostilities there and the withdrawal of the SDF 30 km in depth away from the Turkish border in addition to conducting Turkish-Russian joint patrols in order to monitor the implementation of the agreements.

“We continue effectively to take the fight through partners to  ISIS within Syria and we don’t want to see anything that jeopardizes the efforts that are made to continue to keep ISIS in the box that we put it in,” Blinken said.

Earlier today, a Pentagon official told “Sky News Arabia” channel, that “The administration of US President Joe Biden has informed Turkey that any Turkish military expansion in northern Syria will have serious repercussions on bilateral relations and the interests of innocent Kurdish citizens.”