Turkey has set a deadline for the withdrawal of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from areas of northern Syria near the Turkish border, a Turkish source told Al Jazeera.
Both the US and Russia are trying to avert a Turkish invasion of northern Syria, and the source said Ankara has asked Washington and Moscow to press the SDF to withdraw. Turkey wants the SDF to leave the cities of Manbij, Tal Rifaat, and Kobane within two weeks, or it will launch a ground operation.
Turkey considers the SDF to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which Turkey, the US, and the EU have labeled as a terrorist organization. Ankara launched a series of airstrikes against the SDF at the end of November after blaming a bombing in Istanbul on the PKK.