Baladi News
Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, head of Syria’s radical jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on Monday voiced support for Turkey’s plans to carry out a military operation against Kurdish militants in the country’s north, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star.
Al-Julani's statements came as Turkey threatens to launch a cross-border offensive, its third since the start of a civil war in Syria in 2011, against the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which controls most of northeastern Syria.
“We consider the PKK to be an enemy of this revolution. It controls areas inhabited by large numbers of Sunni Arabs,” al-Jolani told the HTS-affiliated Amjad media outlet, in reference to the YPG. “We are in favor of this region being liberated from the PKK.”
HTS took control of areas in the western countryside of Aleppo over the past week following deadly fighting with other factions backed by Turkey. Julani claimed that HTS has no intentions to rule the areas it took control over recently, saying that the defeated factions there have to choice to join any other factions.