Eight PKK militants killed in eastern Turkey

05 June, 2017

English edition of Asharq Al-Awsat - the world's premier pan-Arab daily.

Addressing the representatives of media outlets in capital Ankara late on Saturday, Yildirim said the United States informed Turkey regarding the operation before it started.

Ankara sees the two groups as the Syrian offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) outlawed for its decades-old armed struggle for an autonomous region in Turkey's southeast, and the Turkish military ended Operation Euphrates Shield at the end of March that was launched in August past year. The U.S. guaranteed that weapons it supplied won't be used against Turkish security forces and citizens, he said.

Tensions between Ankara and the PKK escalated in July 2015 when the ceasefire collapsed because of a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK members.

The U.S. has told Turkey its support for Syrian Kurdish groups is "not long-term but tactical", Anadolu cited Yildirim as saying.

Earlier on Sunday, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the battle to capture the ISIS group's Syrian bastion Raqqa started two days ago, reported Anadolu.

The Syrian Democratic Forces - a major part of which Turkey accuses of links with local terror group PKK - said they captured Baath Dam in the morning, renaming it Freedom Dam.

Yıldırım said US officials assured that the weapons handed to the YPG would not get in the hands of terrorists to be used against Turkey, once the Raqqa operation is finished.

"We will begin in a few days", said Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, spokeswoman for the SDF's "Wrath of the Euphrates" operation to capture Raqa, speaking Saturday.

The US considers the YPG the most effective fighting force against ISIL in Syria and has provided air cover, assistance from special forces on the ground and weaponry.

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