Syrian opposition to back Turkish ops east of Euphrates

IDLIB, Syria

The National Liberation Front (NLF), an umbrella of anti-regime opposition groups in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, said Monday that it would support planned Turkish military operation east of the Euphrates River.

It also voiced readiness to confront the YPG/PKK terrorist group.

“By allowing sectarian militias into the country, the Assad regime has tried to alter Syria's demographic composition,” the NLF said in a statement.

"The regime has created a suitable environment for terrorist groups, including the PKK/PYD/YPG, to the detriment of the Syrian people,” the organization added.

The Assad regime, it went on to assert, “has turned Syria into a playground for rival regional powers”.

The NLF also warned that “certain parties” were actively working to derail planned Turkish military operation east of the Euphrates.

"We will support any operation aimed at ensuring regional stability, ending the terrorist presence, and allowing the return of displaced persons to their homes,” the NLF statement read.

It added: “We will not allow any group -- be it the PKK/YPG or anyone else -- to divide our country.”

May, 11 different Syrian opposition groups joined forces in the northwestern city of Idlib under the banner of the NLF.

On Sunday, the U.S. warned opposition groups linked to the Free Syrian Army against supporting anticipated Turkish operation east of the Euphrates River.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that operation could begin "at any moment", asserting that Turkey would never allow a “terror corridor” to be set up along its border.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN figures, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict to date.