'We are prepared for war' - Tel Abyad officer says as border town stays on lockdown
Record ID:
1435970
'We are prepared for war' - Tel Abyad officer says as border town stays on lockdown
- Title: 'We are prepared for war' - Tel Abyad officer says as border town stays on lockdown
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: CULTIVATED FIELD IN TEL ABYAD VIEW OF BUILDING WITH TURKISH FLAG FROM THE DISTANCE
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 15:49
- Keywords: Syria Raqqa Tal Abyad SDF Turkish operation in Syria
- Location: TEL ABYAD, RAQQA, SYRIA
- City: TEL ABYAD, RAQQA, SYRIA
- Country: Syria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA003B0DN5FR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Local authorities in the town of Tel Abyad, a border between Turkey and Syria, said that they are prepared in case of war on Wednesday (October 9).
"Should the war take place, we are prepared for it" Abu Khalaf, a member of the city's military council told Reuters.
Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on Wednesday, just days after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, with air strikes and artillery hitting YPG militia positions around the border town of Ras al Ain.
As well as air strikes on Ras al Ain, a witness in Tel Abyad said the sound of explosions rang out there and residents fled.
The operation could reshape the map of the Syrian conflict once again, dealing a blow to Kurdish-led forces that have battled Islamic State while widening Turkey's territorial control at the border.
It was Turkey's third such incursion since 2016. Motivated largely by the aim of containing Syrian Kurdish power, Turkey already has troops on the ground across an arc of northwestern Syria, the last stronghold of anti-Damascus rebels.
(Production: Aboud Hamam, Bushra Shakhshir, Chiara Rodriquez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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