Addressing a defense industry meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, December 12, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the target of the operation would be the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), according to the Associated Press.

The YPG is the main component of a Kurdish-led group that rolled back the Islamic State group with the help of the US-led coalition. US troops are deployed with the Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, in part to prevent clashes with Turkey.

Turkish forces have already waged two cross-border campaigns against Syrian Kurdish forces, in 2016 and earlier this year.

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