The United States may have no choice but to withdraw all its troops from northern Syria if the Turkish government decides to launch a military operation in the region, U.S. officials reportedly said.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the concerns of U.S. officials are reaching a fever pitch after Turkey’s president said Tuesday that Ankara had no choice but to go its own way regarding Syria.
Turkey's deadline to jointly establish a "safe zone" with the United States in northern Syria by the end of September has passed, leaving the threat of unilateral military intervention by Ankara hanging over the region.
“It’s a perfect storm, it’s really ugly. There may just be no choice but to leave,” a U.S. official told the WSJ.
President Tayyip Erdogan told the United Nations he wanted to set up the zone along 480 km (300 miles) of border and reaching 30 km inside Syria. Under the Turkish plan, up to 2 million Syrian refugees would be settled in the safe zone, with international support.
If implemented, the project could halve the number of Syrian refugees sheltering in Turkey from Syria's eight-year conflict, and drive the YPG terror group from the border.
Syria has been gripped by conflict since 2011 when demonstrations seeking democratic reforms were fiercely cracked down on by the Syrian regime.
More than half a million people have died in the ensuing conflict and millions more have been displaced as large swaths of Syria have been reduced to rubble.
