Turkish military shipment to Syrian border continues

By Erdal Turkoglu

HATAY, Turkey (AA) - Military reinforcements were dispatched to the Syrian border in Turkey's southern Hatay province on Sunday following Saturday's shipment including tanks, a military source said.

Anadolu Agency photos showed armored personnel carriers, and vehicles carrying military supplies being driven on an asphalt road in a rural area of the border province.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said that the vehicles and supplies had been sent as reinforcements to the Turkish border units.

An Anadolu Agency correspondent in the field observed that excavators were digging positions for the troops while howitzers were directed towards the Afrin district of Syria's Aleppo province.

Earlier on Sunday, an Anadolu Agency correspondent in the region reported that the Turkish military had hit several PKK/PYD targets in five regions of Afrin including Bosoufane, Jindires and Rajo. This came after Saturday's artillery shots fired by Turkish Armed Forces against Afrin.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that Turkey "will continue with the Afrin [operation] -- that we started first with Euphrates Shield Operation -- to purge terrorism from our southern borders", referring to a successful cross-border operation in northern Syria, which ended last March.

Turkey will intervene "if the terrorists in Afrin do not surrender", Erdogan had said Saturday, adding that any venture in the region had no chance of success without Turkey's consent, referring to the PYD/PKK terror group's effort to settle in Syria's northern regions along the Turkish border.

The PKK/PYD is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in 1984, an estimated 40,000 people have been killed in Turkey in related violence.

Following a fragile cease-fire, the group resumed fighting in July 2015. Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of approximately 1,200 security personnel and civilians, according to an official tally.