President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday promised to sweep militants from the length of Turkey's Syrian border, saying that Ankara could extend its current military operation in northwest Syria all the way east to the border with Iraq.
Speaking to provincial leaders from his ruling AK Party, Erdogan said that after its ongoing operation in Afrin, in Syria's northwest, Turkey would continue to the east, including the town of Manbij.
US soldiers are currently positioned in Manbij along with the Syrian Kurdish YPG, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey.