Turkish newspaper: Ankara plans to seize Syria’s largest dam on Euphrates River

In flagrant defiance of international norms and regional and international calls on Ankara to refrain from a large-scale military operation within 30 kilometers of Syrian Arab territory, local Turkish media reported that the Turkish armed forces had completed preparations for a possible military operation.

The Russian news agency Tass quoted the Turkish daily Sabah as saying: “The Turkish military and pro-Syrian militias have completed preparations for the operation, and are awaiting orders to launch it across the northern Syrian border”.

While the United States and several Arab countries have warned Turkey against launching a possible military operation, Turkish forces have positioned themselves in combat positions near the cities of Tall Rifaat and Manbij, and opened artillery fire overnight, according to the Daily Sabah, which noted that Turkey “plans to take over the Tabqa Dam, the largest in Syria”, revealing Erdogan’s true goals behind the potential operation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously announced that he would launch a new military operation on the neighboring region, purportedly to pursue terrorists in Tall Rifaat and Manbij. However, according to the Daily Sabah, the main objective of the operation is to capture the Tabqa Dam, Syria’s largest dam on the Euphrates River, and expand Turkish influence inside northern Syria by expanding the so-called 30-kilometer-deep security zone established in 2019 as a result of Operation Peace Spring.

What is remarkable about the Turkish military operations, which violate the sovereignty of Arab States, whether in Syria or Iraq, is the choice of names related to peace, such as “Olive Branch”, through which Ankara occupied areas in northern Syria, and “Spring of Peace”, which solidified the Turkish occupation in the same region.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Turkey, a U.S. NATO ally, against a military attack in Syria, saying it would “endanger the region”.

Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken said: “Our great concern is that a new offensive would undermine regional stability and offer malicious actors the possibility to exploit instability”, he said. “It’s something we oppose”.

Erdogan often calls the Kurds civilians and armed men terrorists to justify his violation of Syrian and Iraqi Arab territories, which the Arab League tried to deter in early 2019 were it not for the intervention of Qatar, Turkey’s closest ally, which was reluctant to issue a unified Arab resolution condemning Turkish violations.