UN ready for 'very close' coordination in Syria op.

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA (AA) - UN is prepared for "very close" coordination with Turkey on a possible military operation in northern Syria, an official said Monday.

Speaking to reporters, Panos Moumtzis, UN assistant secretary general and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria crisis, said Turkey has provided necessary guarantees to UN on humanitarian issues.

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 fled the violence to return home.

Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in 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. The YPG is the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara.