Ankara deployed on Sunday military reinforcements to the Syrian border in Turkey's southern Hatay province. The news came shortly after the US-led coalition fighting ISIL announced it was working to create a 30,000-strong border security force in northern Syria.
Spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said the coalition and its allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) want to focus on border security now that the offensive against ISIL is coming to an end.
The SDF, made up mostly of Arab and Kurdish fighters has flushed out ISIL from swathes of northeastern Syria and controls territory bordering Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and Syrian government forces to the south and west.
Turkey condemned the coalition’s announcement, saying it would "legitimise a terror organisation".
The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a "terrorist" organisation.
Read more: Turkey and Russia exchange warnings over Syria's Idlib
"Rather than end its support to the PYD-YPG, these steps taken to legitimise a terror organisation and to make it permanent in the region are worrying," said Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. PYD refers to the Kurds' Democratic Union Party, often considered the YPG's political faction.
"Accepting this state of affairs is absolutely not possible.”
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that tanks and supplies were sent to the troops on the border on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, the news agency said that Turkish troops targeted a number of PYD targets in five regions of the Kurdish-held area of Afrin in northern Syria, including Bosoufane, Jindires and Rajo.
Mr Erdogan warned that the Turkish army will attack the Kurdish troops in Afrin "in the days ahead".
Turkey "will continue with the Afrin [operation] — that we started first with Euphrates Shield operation — to purge terrorism from our southern borders," he said on Sunday.
Mr Erdogan also said that he was waiting for backing from allies but did not elaborate.
The government of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad did not immediately respond to the announcement of the border force.
Turkey launched its Euphrates Shield offensive in 2016 to push back ISIL from its border and block the convergence of the Kurdish-run regions.
An estimated 40,000 people were killed in the Turkey-PKK conflict since 1984, and the resumption of fighting in July 2015 has killed more than 3,300 people.
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Profile of VoucherSkout
Date of launch: November 2016
Founder: David Tobias
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers
Sector: Technology
Size: 18 employees
Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake
Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
FIXTURES
December 28
Stan Wawrinka v Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Milos Raonic v Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 29 - semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Stan Wawrinka / Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic / Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm
December 30
3rd/4th place play-off, 5pm
Final, 7pm
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
