On Monday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an impending military incursion into northern Syria to construct a 30-kilometer-deep safe zone along the southern border.

Turkey’s effort is expected to concentrate on areas where the country is most vulnerable to cross-border assaults. Erdogan, however, did not go into greater information.

The Turkish military has undertaken three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016, seizing control of territories along the border from Daesh and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization.

The withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish forces up to 30 kilometers into Syria was part of the Sochi agreement between Russia and Turkey.

The declaration comes as Turkey is aggressively opposing Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership ambitions, citing the two Scandinavian nations’ backing of terror groups and their arms embargoes following Turkey’s previous Syria operation in 2019.

Although both nations deny any backing for terror organizations on their soil, Ankara has demanded Sweden and Finland for the extradition of 33 members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, as well as the lifting of ongoing weapons export sanctions to Turkey.

Erdogan’s announcement also came a day before diplomatic delegations from Sweden and Finland landed in Ankara on Tuesday to discuss their NATO membership bid, where Turkey is expected to present some files on PKK activities during their meeting with the Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal on Wednesday.

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