‘Turkey presence in Syria pretext for land grab’

Beirut: The chief spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Monday that Turkey’s claims that it is fighting YPG forces west of the Euphrates river in northern Syria were untrue and a pretext for seizing Syrian territory.

“There are absolutely no YPG military reinforcements being sent towards Manbij. Turkey’s claims that it is fighting the YPG west of the Euphrates have no basis in truth and are merely flimsy pretexts to widen its occupation of Syrian land,” Redur Xelil told Reuters.