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Turkey incursion into Syria in line with US-Israel plan: Activist

Turkish soldiers fire an upgraded M60 tank during fighting near the northern Syrian village of Beraan, north of the city of Aleppo, on October 24, 2016. (AFP photo)

The Turkish military has announced that Turkey-backed Syrian militants have gained full control of a highway linking al-Bab town to Aleppo. The militants backed by Turkey’s airstrikes destroyed 48 targets and killed 15 mercenaries affiliated with other terrorist groups in the latest round of their Operation Euphrates Shield in the area. Nearly two dozen Turkish military forces have reportedly lost their lives since Turkey launched the operation in August.

Mimi al-Laham, Syrian activist and political commentator from Australia, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the Turkish government pursues three goals with the incursion into Syria and its main objective goes in line with a US-Israeli plot for Balkanizing the Arab country.

“The interesting name of Turkish incursion into Syria is Euphrates Shield and this means they want to maintain the Kurdish influence on the eastern side of the Euphrates, which corresponds to the maps drawn up by Israeli and US strategists about how they like to Balkanize Syria,” Laham said on Wednesday.

“Interestingly those maps correspond to [plans that are aimed to] give the Kurdish [forces] influence [within] lands that are not deemed belonging to greater Israel,” she noted, adding that they may want to Balkanize “the entire region.”

According to the analyst, the new operation of cutting the “connection of the bridge from al-Bab to Aleppo is a more aggressive move towards the Syrian government than it is to the YPG (People's Protection Units) or the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).”

She further stated, “It (the incursion) is indeed a violation of sovereignty [of Syria]. Turkish soldiers were involved and they have no UN mandate to do so, there is no Security Council resolution and of course they do not have the permission of the Syrian government.”

Dismissing the claim that Ankara plans to fight Daesh, she noted that the Turkish government was pursuing “regime change policy” in Syria and trying to prevent the Kurds from establishing a Kurdish state in the Arab country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.


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