The Syrian army has started sending its troops to the battlefield in northern Syria to "oppose Turkish aggression on Syrian territory", the Syrian state media reported this evening, as reported by Reuters.
The Syrian media did not specify exactly where the Syrian troops were sent to northern Syria, where Turkey is conducting an offensive against the Kurds with the help of Syrian opposition forces.
On Wednesday, Turkey launched a military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria that it considers terrorists.
On the fifth day of the Turkish offensive against the Syrian Kurds, the Turkish army captured the cities of Suluk, Tal Abijad and Ras al-Ain as well as nearby villages in the north of Syria, reported Tanjug.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that the Turkish army and its allies from among the Syrian rebels will enter 30 to 35 kilometers deep into the territory of Syria in their offensive against the Kurdish militia.
He also said that two Turkish soldiers and 16 Syrian rebels have lost their lives in this operation.
On the other hand, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by the Kurds state that 31 of their fighters have been killed in the fighting so far, reports Reuters.
European countries are scrambling to quickly draw up a plan to move thousands of foreign Islamic State fighters from Syrian prison camps in Iraq as the outbreak of a new conflict in Syria has increased the risks of the jihadists fleeing or returning to Europe.
Europeans assume that Kurdish militias are holding about a fifth of the 10.000 Islamic State fighters in prison.
Meanwhile, around 785 women linked to the Islamic State and their children escaped from the camp guarded by Syrian Kurdish forces in the north of the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced today, whose director Rami Abdulrahman, citing sources from the Ain Isa camp, said that anarchy reigns there, reports Reuters.
In the camp, which is now guarded by only 60-70 guards, there are about 12.000 displaced people, among them family members of jihadists.
Erdogan called this disinformation and said that these reports are false, and that their goal is to provoke the United States of America (USA) and other Western countries, Reuters reported, referring to the Anadolu Agency.
US President Donald Trump ordered earlier today all US soldiers in northern Syria to move to the south, but not to leave the country, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said.
Esper told CBS that the conflict between Turkish forces and Syrian Kurdish fighters, led by the Kurds, has become "unsustainable" for the US military.
He did not specify how many American soldiers will leave the north of Syria, but stated that it is the majority of the 1.000 soldiers in Syria.
Earlier, an unnamed US official said a "small group" of US troops were withdrawing from a base in the northern Syrian city of Ain Issa as Turkish forces advanced.
AP notes that this is the second case of withdrawal of American forces since the start of the Turkish offensive in northern Syria.
Some European countries, including Germany and France, have banned arms exports to Turkey because of the Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria.
Erdogan said today that the arms embargo on Turkey will not be enough to stop the offensive in Syria.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel today called on Erdogan to immediately stop the military offensive in northeastern Syria and warned him of possible instability in the region and the revival of the Islamic State.
Kurdish forces with the support of the US fought against the jihadists of the Islamic State.
In five days, more than 100 Kurdish fighters and around 60 civilians were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated earlier.
The United Nations (UN) said 130.000 people had fled their homes as of Wednesday and feared that number could rise to around 400.000.
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