As the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are ready for a fresh ground operation against terrorist groups in northern Syria, Menagh Military Air Base, Maraanaz and Tal Rifaat are among the primary targets.
The Turkish forces are preparing for the fifth operation in northern Syria. Together with them, the Syrian National Army (SNA), which will support the land operation, completed its preparations. Now all eyes are turned to Ankara, awaiting the next order.
Menagh Military Air Base, which has strategic importance in the north of Aleppo, is the primary target of the TSK.
The fighters of the SNA, who were on red alert on the front line, and the Menagh Military Air Base, which has become unusable, were photographed. The military airport, which has been under the occupation of the terrorist organization PKK's Syrian branch YPG since 2016, is located in the village of Menagh, in Azaz.
Harassment shots are fired every day between the SNA and PKK/YPG terrorists on the front line. With Operation Claw-Sword, Turkish soldiers have been hitting terrorist targets in the Menagh line for several days with air and ground support fire elements.
No one lives in the village anymore, where 2,000 people lived before the war. The airport, which was used as the country's fourth flight training ground before the civil war in Syria, has been razed to the ground. It is seen that the runway where planes and helicopters landed is covered with grass.
The terrorists, who seized the airport with the air support of Russia in 2016, changed the name of the airport to the name of the leader of a terrorist organization. After the terrorist group took over the region, nearly 200,000 civilians living in Tal Rifaat, Menagh and Maraanaz regions had to migrate to regions close to Türkiye and the Turkish border.
In the occupation of the PKK/YPG, attacks are constantly being carried out from these regions to safe areas in northern Syria, especially Afrin and Azaz. From time to time, attacks on regions close to the Turkish border threaten the security of the region.
Türkiye is more determined than ever to secure its Syrian border from attacks by PKK-linked YPG terrorists, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week, insisting that a ground operation would start "at the most convenient time."
Türkiye's air operation in northern Iraq and Syria to clear the regions of terrorists is "just the beginning," Erdoğan said, adding that the country will launch a ground operation in Syria "when convenient."
"Our operations with planes, cannons and drones are only the beginning. Our determination to secure all our southern border ... with a safe zone is stronger today than ever before," Erdoğan said.
"While we press ahead with uninterrupted air raids, we will crack down on terrorists also by land at the most convenient time for us," he said.
The president specified northern Syria's YPG-controlled Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (also known as Kobani) regions as possible targets to clear of terrorists.
"We have formed part of this corridor (and) will take care of it starting with places such as Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab, which are the sources of trouble," he underlined.
The PKK/YPG mostly carries out terrorist attacks in Manbij, Ain al-Arab and the Tal Rifaat districts of Aleppo. The terrorist group also uses those areas as bases for its attacks.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword, a cross-border aerial campaign against the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing, the YPG, which have illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan attacks on Turkish soil. The country's air operation followed a PKK/YPG terrorist attack on Nov. 13 on Istanbul's crowded Istiklal Street that killed six people and left 81 injured.
After the air operation was launched, President Erdoğan also signaled a ground operation to northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terror threat, saying, "This is not limited to just an air operation."
The Turkish leader has threatened a new military operation into northern Syria since May and upped those threats in the wake of this month's attack. Erdoğan has repeatedly called for a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) "safe zone" to protect Türkiye against cross-border attacks from Syrian territory.
The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the United States, Türkiye and the European Union, and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara. The PKK/YPG has controlled much of northeastern Syria after the forces of Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad withdrew in 2012. The U.S. primarily partnered with PKK/YPG terrorists in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the PKK/YPG's presence in northern Syria.
Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the PKK/YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Türkiye conducted its counterterrorism operations throughout, removing a significant number of terrorists from the region.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).