Tens of US-Backed SDF Forces Flee As Turkish Army Prepares for Assault in Northern Syria

"Tens of SDF fighters have defected and fled in several regions of Raqqa and Hasaka provinces," field sources in Northern Syria reported.

The sources pointed to the defection of a group of SDF forces from al-Hos village in Eastern Raqqa, and said that a new wave of arrests of SDF members has occurred in the surrounding areas of the city of Ras al-Ain in Northwestern Hasaka after defection of their comrades in Raqqa.

Meantime, a number of SDF members have surrendered themselves to the Turkish army in al-Mobarakieh village East of Ras al-Ain city in Northwestern Hasaka, the sources said.

The sources, meantime, unveiled that the defection of the US-backed militants from their ranks has created rifts in several border regions with Syria near Ras al-Ain in Hasaka, Quntara in Soluk region East of Tal Abyaz in Northern Raqqa.

Meantime, a number of border settlers have fled al-Mohata, al-Abreh and al-Kharabat regions in Ras al-Ain in Northern Hasaka.

Turkish President Rajab Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara would launch an operation in the East of Euphrates in Syria in a few days to save it from separatist terrorist organization.

"We expressed that we will launch an operation in East of Euphrates in a few days to save it from a separatist terrorist organization," Erdogan stated at the Turkish Defense Industry Summit.

Erdogan added Turkey's target has never been US soldiers, but rather members of terror group.

"It is clear that the purpose of US observation points (in Syria) is not to protect our country from terrorists but to protect terrorists from Turkey," Erdogan noted.

A possible mission East of the Euphrates, which Turkey’s leadership has been suggesting for months, would follow two successful cross-border Turkish operations into Syria --- Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch – which were both meant to eradicate the presence of YPG/PKK and ISIL terrorists near Turkey’s borders.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK --- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU --- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

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