Erdogan promises to crush Kurdish fighters backed by the United States to the east of the Euphrates in Syria

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan promised on Tuesday to crush Kurdish fighters to the east of the Euphrates in Syria, announcing a major military operation against US allies in an area where Washington supports them with troops on the ground.

The Syrian YPG Kurdish militia is the nucleus of a force that fought against an Islamic State with the support of the air force, arms, funds, training and about 2,000 US troops. special forces on the ground.

Turkey, Washington's main Muslim ally in NATO, sees the YPG as an enemy and has already intervened to sweep fighters from the territory west of the Euphrates during military campaigns in the past two years .

Previous campaigns have stopped on the banks of the river, partly to avoid a direct confrontation with Washington. But Erdogan said Turkey is now ready to continue.

"We will destroy the terrorist structure in the east of the Euphrates. We have completed the preparations and plans for this problem, "said Erdogan in a speech to the legislators of his AK party.

"We have launched active intervention operations against the terrorist organization over the past two days. We will soon tackle the terrorist organization with larger and more effective operations. "

The state-owned Anadolu news agency said Sunday that Turkish forces had already bombed positions at the east of the river owned by the YPG.

Turkey has been exasperated by US support for the YPG, which it regards as a terrorist organization and an extension of the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which fought an insurgency in the southeastern part of the country. Turkey for more than three decades.

Erdogan released what he called a "last warning" last week for those who would endanger Turkey's borders. He then said that Turkey would focus its attention on the east of the Euphrates, rather than on the Manbij region, just west of the river, where US and Turkish forces have decided in June to conduct joint patrols.