Erdogan: Turkey out of patience for attacks from northern Syria

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has run out of patience after the latest deadly attack on its police force in northern Syria and violent activities targeting the country’s territories.

Erdogan’s comments came at a news conference on Monday following a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

"We have no patience left in some areas that are a source of terror attacks aimed at our country from Syria," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said Ankara is determined to eliminate threats emanating from northern Syria, either itself or with the support of active local forces.

"We are determined to eliminate the threats emanating from Syria," he said in televised comments. 

"We will take the necessary steps in Syria as soon as possible."

Two Turkish special operation police officers were killed and two others wounded in the Operation Euphrates Shield zone of northern Syria when the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group, struck an armed vehicle with guided missile.

READ MORE: Several dead in YPG/PKK car bomb attack at market in Syria's Afrin

Turkey's anti-terror operations

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

READ MORE: Terror attack kills two Turkish soldiers in northern Syria