Terror group fumes at US for exiting east of Euphrates

By Selen Temizer and Levent Tok

ANKARA (AA) – The terrorist groups YPG/PKK on Monday blamed the U.S. for not keeping up its promise, by deciding to retreat from east of the Euphrates River in Syria.

"Despite the collapse of the security mechanism and subsequent positions, the U.S. forces did not fulfill their responsibilities and began to withdraw from the border, by allowing the region to return to the battlefield," Mustafa Bali, so-called spokesperson of the terrorist organization, said on Twitter.

He claimed that YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are determined to protect the northeastern Syria.

Separately, SDF said in a statement that the U.S. withdrawal will affect "negatively" the fight against Daesh.

"The U.S. Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and the U.S. forces, having defeated the ISIS [Daesh] territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area," the U.S. said on early Monday, referring to Turkey's long-planned operation in the region.

Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who had escaped the violence to return home.

Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates River in the northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.

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