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Turkey seeks to seize territory in northern Syria: Analyst

Turkey-backed forces advance on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of al-Bab on February 9, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Turkish military has claimed that it is close to capturing the northern Syrian city of al-Bab in Raqqah province from the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

An author and journalist believes that Turkey’s goals in Syria are “uncertain,” adding that Ankara may not be serious about fighting terrorism in the war-torn country as much as Russia and Iran are.

“I frankly do not trust [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan. He has been supporting ISIS (Daesh) and al-Nusra, and maybe he has turned a leaf. Maybe he really is going against them, maybe because of things that he is upset about regarding US policy toward himself and toward Turkey. He is swimming a little bit more East than West, but we need to be suspicious of him and wait to see the way things are played out,” Stephen Lendman told Press TV in an interview on Friday.

He also noted that "Turkey has had longstanding aims for seizing territory in northern Syria." Therefore, he said, it is unclear whether taking Raqqah will be the end of Turkey’s campaign in Syria. 

The analyst further stated that the only way to combat terrorism is to stop supporting it.

“It is not a matter so much of defeating it on the battle field, it is a matter of ending US, Turkish, Saudi Arabian, NATO and Israeli support and if you do that, then ISIS and these other groups will wither and fade away and that is the way to defeat them,” he said.

Lendman further referred to US President Donald Trump’s remarks on establishing safe zones in Syria, arguing that they are going to make the country “less safe.”

He went on to say that the only way to make Syria safe is to get rid of the nearly six-year-old conflict in the country.

The analyst further argued that whatever Trump has done so far in Syria has been “destructive” rather than “constructive.”


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