beginning but the americans that that the y.p. g. has been leading is leading troops in the fight against eisel and according to what we're hearing from the office shows and there is sources on the ground there are explosions sounds and rest of syria's wrestler and right across the south are sensitive far f. 16 jets have taken off from a southeastern city d.r. booker and they have started bombing the y.p. g. positions and wrestle and also artillery supporting the f. 16 s strikes current there this is what we know so far in terms of the pictures that turkish television was broadcasting just a short time ago we saw areas as you say here and also. we've also been. a correspondent has also been focusing his attention on the military build up in terms of the way that the turkish people have been informed are they all on side

with this military operation was the general feeling. so when it comes to fight against the out the old kurdistan workers party the p.k. k. all segments of the turkish society meet on the same ground because it turkey and as a state turkey has fought against the p.k. k. for almost 4 decades more than 3 decades and it cost around $40000.00 lives both from the turkish military side and the kurdish citizens who have joined the p.k. k. so far so this is a long story for cherokee economically turkey has been very hurt by the fight against the p.k. k. during those last decades and that's why in a seen as legitimate by the turkish public of course the the motive of the military oprah while the motive of the military operation is officiated by almost everyone

including the opposition the way how the military operation is going to be conducted was going to be conducted was questioned by the opposition or the supporters of the government because. there were some parties even inside military who were against the military operations so deep like 30 kilometers or more inside north is than syria so immortal wise yes it is it is accepted and perceived well by almost every segment of the society but of course how the military operation will unfold especially thinking that the u.s. has taken out its support from both sides neither from turkey nor the syrian democratic forces side it's a little bit question mark indeed i mean it's cinema would not support remains for the one if he has and his government of said that they will make sure that the civilian population are protected while sis military operation happens in north

eastern syria because once you have pictures of civilians being in. jerde in military clashes whatever they may be that can turn the tide i mean is there a threshold to which even the turkish public would criticize the government if they started to see the injured being ferried back on to turkish soil where they are already hosting several 1000000 syrian refugees already. exactly so i mean when it comes to the who minutes when it's airing cut us from it is. there is no excuse for this of course and. the p.k. k. outlawed could be star workers party in general and the wife have used civilians as for machines and when and where there is an attack we can see on their web pages or media outlets that they and also they're going to use civilians as they home and shields so this is

a concern of course how the military operation is going to unfold is a concern even though the turkish side claims and insists that they are going to avoid any civilian casualties of course when there are 8 or strikes bombardments there are some injuries that are unavoidable so this is this is a very important issue for the turkish military i have spoken to turkish ministry members since this operation is broken and turkey had some military operations elsewhere as well turkey has been in somalia jointly un forces in afghanistan and did operations in cyprus a decades ago and what they tell me is that for many tarion safety is the most important thing for the turkish military but of course the field the battle ground is different everything can change and there are some individual incidents that you

can point to and for instance the y.p. g.n.d. a.s.d.f. was reported by the international rights groups as violating the civilian rights injustice behaviors in the areas they are taking they have taken under control and they were those entire international institutions have accused them for forcing people displacing people after they took control of the local administrations however on the other side there was a report. again by an international institute that doing this often operation operation all of branch they and the factions which joined the turkish military and did some violations as well enough and so this has this is a concern for both sides so hill and. less the operation begins. you never know what's going to happen but one thing that i would like to say is that the geography in which turkey targets right now is almost $78.00 times bigger

than. the previous operation areas that turkey it handled like the operation all of branch area and euphrates still they routes include. us and other places and that area the previous area was a mountainous area so it was easier for the turkish military to conduct operation but this is a re are on the it's inside of the euphrates river well under estefan for this is a this is a more kind of a flat area that's why turkish military experts warn that the wife would you forces will go into towns or settlements which can which is going to be more like an orbit urban warfare so when it comes to urban areas it is more important to everyone civilian casualties because they're going to be involved with the civilians and it will continue to monitor events with you insert the word that comes out from turkey sit in consider the correspondence course over to the russian capital where venison

joins a sense that we're seeing at the moment pictures of the odd fighter flying across through the clear skies in northern syria at the moment it seems pretty quiet from what with the pictures the city that we're seeing had obviously been talk from the russians in the day we have been waiting for russian comment these past 48 hours what do you think the reaction will be if any at the moment to this news that the military operation by the turks has begun. well in fact the russian president vladimir putin was told personally by turkish president the one that the operation was about to start they had a phone conversation just a few hours ago in which this was announced and put in according to his spokesman the task of sad to urge to turkey to to assess the situation

sorrily and make sure not to of south and he joined efforts are being made to make us find a solution for the war in syria basically not condemning formally this operation and also knocked on endorsing it put in of course is a very close ally with one but also on the other hand is helping the syrian army and the syrian government for years already on their side of the war and the syrian government of course has already announced also that it will do everything to to protect its territorial integrity 6 left of the minister of foreign affairs here on a trip to the middle east also said that no one had assured the russians that the territorial integrity of syria would be respected but that's not what we're seeing at the moment i assume so russia is playing this this this double game as so to say with turkey only on one side and syria on the order and also has now also reached

out to the courts to make this dialogue dialogue between the kurds and the syrian government which makes the position of russia of course much stronger in syria and also in the middle east and seems also to be one of the only options left for the courts now the u.s. has pulled out and turkey is tacking the only way to be defended as to say would be the kurds too to make this dialogue with syria but of course time is very much rapidly running out. indeed of course are the russians don't really want to get in broiled in this particular operation they're obviously support the government in damascus i mean at what stage do you think russia might get involved if this land incursion really heads deep into syrian territory deeper than expected . well i think that's going to be

a very difficult question to answer because recently he and russia have also been involved of course in these ongoing as stand up talks or a peace process that actually has been launched by russia to find a solution for syria so there is this close relationship between turkey and russia that russia done doesn't want to jeopardize but on the other hand of course syria will ask for help as well if this incursion is going to be much more serious than maybe russia is thinking at the moment so that's something that we have to see and wait how this will develop but of course syria and russia is watching it all very very carefully indeed they are and of course it will come back to you for more reaction as we get it from moscow if you're joining us here on al-jazeera english what you are seeing are pictures of towns and areas very close to the turkey syria border turkish television is also promoting images out of the areas of taliban and they are back here where we have seen military and craft fighter jets taking off to

those clear skies and heading towards northern syria where the turkish president has announced within the last hour that a military operation has begun against those that it deems are terrorists primarily we believe that of the sea that those that are being targeted are from the s.p.d. in the y. p.g. the s.d.f. pardon me and the y. p.g. these are kurdish based fighters that have been for nearly 5 years working fighting alongside american forces against i saw or dash as it's also known now of course with the president trumps withdrawal of support for those kurdish fighters announced earlier in the week it's left this vacuum of how this area will be administered let's cross back over to the white house to our correspondent follow. events kimberly halkett this is an enormous headache for the oval office right

now perhaps they didn't expect the turks to launch this operation so soon with president trump inviting the turkish president to talk they thought the dialogue might work here it hasn't. no and certainly in the oval office there's one person there that's donald trump he doesn't seem to be confused or flustered in any way but he certainly has those working around him trying to support him spinning their wheels trying to adapt to what many people believe was sort of an abrupt release of this policy on sunday night what we've seen the president doing though is justifying it in the wake of enormous criticism bipartisan chris criticism and certainly criticism from international partners and friends of the united states so donald trump has taken to twitter he has been talking about this trying to appeal to the american voter to at least get on board

with his decision the president writing the united states has spent 8 trillion dollars fighting and policing in the middle east thousands of our great soldiers have died or been badly wounded millions of people have died on the other side going into the middle east is the worst decision ever made in the history of our country the president goes on in a 2nd tweet to talk about the flawed intelligence that led the united states to the 2003 us invasion of iraq the search for weapons of mass destruction faulty intelligence those weapons of mass destruction never found but there were many many americans that were killed in that conflict thousands that were wounded in that conflict and now a generation later american voters are tired of the money that this is costing with no clear and sort of end game end result in terms of the conflicts that the united states troops are still in broiled and that is

a campaign promise of donald trump in 2016 when he reminded reporters of a c. spoke from the white house on monday that he is specifically saying i'm looking to keep a campaign promise why because there's another u.s. election coming in november of 2020 now donald trump was he was speaking to reporters that's just. looking over some of my notes from that day one of the things he said specifically look i'm not siding with turkey you brought up the point that the us president has invited rush of tide it air to want to the white house on november 13th he says i'm not siding with turkey he's also had a lot of criticism about abandoning the kurdish fighters that helped the united states or ally with the united states from those 5 years to help defeat eisel he says look at when we went into syria this was only in his words supposed to be a short term hit he says 30 to 90 days obviously has been farther than that and now as a result he says it's time to get out he also said that if turkey does anything that

would harm those civilians they'd be caught in the midst that they could have their economy decimated so well he said turkey's a friend he also was very clear about the financial penalties it could face if anything is done in his words donald trump's words inhumane but of course when we talk about humane there is a deep and grave concern about the humanitarian consequences of this military operation thousands of people caught in the midst is save the children even issuing a statement earlier in the week saying that they're calling on international governments to assure there will be food there will be shelter that there will be safety given the fact that there is this genuine fear another humanitarian disaster could unfold as a result of turkey's military operations while you speak to us that we're also seeing pictures of that basin in chile and of course that is because. along the border between syria northern syria and southern turkey is that military offensive

begins and some smoke in the distance as the military attack happens we're going to cross over to bill in iraq's kurdistan region in the north of the area where our correspondent bernard smith joins me but that you're also getting word that this military offensive has begun by the turks let's just begin with reaction if there is any from kurdistan officials but surely they'll be concerned about an influx of refugees from the area. i think that is the main concern so there's been no immediate reaction to the news coming out of turkey in the confirmation that this assault on kurdish held areas in northeastern syria by the turkish military has started but yes one of the biggest concerns has always be about the fear not just of more refugees coming in to this part of iraq from syria but also the threats to the cams that are holding eisel prisoners now in the kurdish administers parts of

northeastern syria there are some $11000.00 it's thought to be i saw related prisoners and they are in detention centers schools some in prisons that are being administered by the syrian democratic forces the kurdish main the s.t.'s that now the concern is be that 'd if those forces are forced to go and protect kurdish territory that call to go forward and protect kurdish territory then they could leave these prisons or there could be some sort of attempt to break out from the prisons and one of the biggest concerns is also is a place called al hole that's a refugee camp further deeper into kurdish syrian kurdish controlled territory but has got some $70000.00 mainly women and children and that they are the wives of the widows of eisel fighters over around half of those suspects to be i thought i saw

sympathizers and is already before this incursion started was already a very dangerous place and aid agencies were talking about the fact that they were already contemplating not being able to go in there because it's so dangerous only $400.00 s.t.'s security forces guarding not camp of some 70000 people if they leave as the kurds have said that could be the risk of that then there is a threat there's going to be a breakout from that place and that could send more refugees over the border into curdie. iraq not ministered kurdish. areas of iraq and that could overload already stressed relief camps or 9 of them in the parts of iraq it missed parts of the kurdish atmos parts of iraq so that of course bernard we're getting war news why his name. is asking the u.s. and coalition for a no fly zone to stop those turkish attacks in northeastern syria any appeals by the s.d.s. for the moment have just fallen on deaf ears as far as the president is concerned

if that avenue is only talks or allegiances russia has stepped up president saying you can talk to us you can talk to damascus. well we've got but we've also seen from our really let down they feel by the americans we're seeing that they're not only asking for a no fly zone to be imposed but they're also saying look the s.d.f. showed good faith to the security mechanism between the u.s. and turkey this left our people defenseless and that security mechanism was when the s.t.'s forces agreed to withdraw from positions along the border along the turkey syria border they agreed to withdraw and allow joint patrols from the turks and the u.s. and the syrian s.d.f. . the syrian kurds now saying never banned in those positions to be attacked by the

turks so a lot of frustration and deep disappointment from the syrian kurds who feel they've been let down by the americans the feeling is that the administration has given the green light for turkey to go ahead with this assault russia for the moment says it's not going to get involved it says this is not why we are in syria but it has also said that it doesn't believe that what the americans are doing is is helpful to the situation in syria so that it will come back to it in a short while and this is obviously a developing situation for our viewers it's just gone 1400 hours g.m.t. here in al-jazeera english you're watching live coverage of certainly pictures coming out of turkish television where a military operation and incursion into northern syria known as operation piece spring the by the turkish president hopes to flush out as they call it terrorists but as we know the kurdish led.

forces let's cross over to the french capital paris when a touch of butler is standing by natasha. we had comments from the european union earlier in the week saying how concerned they were about the situation and they stood with kurdish forces who've been fighting i saw the french president has said words very similar they will now be concerned in paris as to where this all leads well indeed and we've not had any reaction since we've heard the family military operations actually underway but earlier today here in paris a spokesperson for the least they did say the president a man on mars watching the situation very closely and was extremely worried by it and in fact on monday present my problem met at the least say a senior syrian kurdish official to discuss the situation further and also to

show france's support for the syrian democratic forces to share france's support and gratitude for what he called their help and support in fighting i saw now that information we've been told by the lease a spokesperson was passed on to turkish officials so we'll have to wait and see if there's any reaction from that but we know that in the past i can say that present macro has certainly a strained while the relationship i should say between president makarov and the turkish president has been strained in the past because the french president has over the past couple of years repeatedly invited officials from the syrian democratic forces to paris to show france's support in terms of the relationship to a certain extent between europe and america over an issue that they are so divided on is going to fracture or make wider the differences they have in dealing

with syria itself because they certainly have issues with damascus and of course russian support for damascus therefore it's a very delicate balancing act for paris at least. well of course there are differences between the european position and the u.s. position i mean the european leaders as you said yourself earlier they have been very concerned about turkey's decision they're very concerned about the u.s. decision in the 1st place to withdraw its troops so i think that is something the france will be watching very closely indeed remember of course this is this geographically we're much closer to europe to the u.s. and i think many leaders who will be watching developments extremely closely they know they want to keep good relations with all sides and i think that's why mark rohr is watching this he's extremely worried but he is talking to syrian kurdish

leaders inviting that official on monday may be symbolically in a way with the news of this offensive looming he was sending a message to the turkish government that france at least for its part in terms of the european position is continuing to support the syrian democratic forces and is grateful for the help that they have given in that fight against isis. of course i will continue to monitor what comes out of the french capital in the coming hours for the moment sasha thank you and of course you're seeing images obviously of a form of military artillery attack in certain areas of northern syria as operation piece spring by the turks has begun within the last hour. its fighter jets are in the air targeting locations they want to clear of terrorists we know that those groups they're targeting are either syrian defense forces or other why p.g. kurdish backed kurdish led forces that have been at the heart of the fight against

eisel and of course working alongside both european and american forces in the areas causing great deal of controversy on both sides of the atlantic and of course in the middle east the turkish armed forces together with the syrian national army have launched as we just said operation piece spring against the p.k. in the why p.g. and dash or eisel terrorists as they are known in northern syria quoted they are saying that our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor or across our southern border and to bring peace to the area operation peace spring will neutralize terror threats against turkey and lead to the establishment of a safe zone facilitating the return of syrian refugees to their homes we will preserve syria's territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists simcoe sulu's our correspondent in istanbul just bring us up to speed

sin em on what we know so far if information is coming out we see that the local channel certainly there in turkey are able to give detail as to where the target areas are in that northern syrian belt. the initial targets for the turkish military have been wrestling and tell of the at. has been hit by a turkish f. 16 just that to that to call from south or sensitive the our booker and tel aviv that's has been hit by the turkish hovet sers since prisons are done announced that the operation peace train has begun this is what we know so far and locals the reporting on social media and talking to. the media that they are there are explosions there are fumes also in jail lamp an hour or for this.

district cause but just by the border the governor office and i was that the civilians should stay at home because the. the shelling is and f. 16 in striking as are underway this is what we know so far it turkey has been hit saying from land by holbert surface and from air space by the f. 16 jets of course so we're also getting news via reuters that. witnesses in the syrian town of tell about as you say been hearing the sounds of explosions and smoke rising nearby along the border a real concern that civilians are not injured but inevitably civilians are often injured in these sorts of military confrontations that will be of great concern to turkey that's given assurances it will try its best to make sure that civilian injuries are kept to a minimum. or course this is

a concern for everyone but the turkish military and the turkish officials say that they have targeted the y.p. g.'s syrian kurdish fighter group positions and arrested in and tell of the at and they are not targeting the civilians according to their statements but this is the residue the area that turkish military targets for a safe zone which is 30 kilometers deep have residential areas so as the ministry operation unfold it will be interesting to see how turkish military is going to plan the soap or a shot in order to avoid any when it teria any civilian casualties and this is a concern for everyone but the turkish military members that i have spoken so far they say that it took us military is a vault to prevent any civilian loss and turkish military spray vs experiences like in somalia like like in afghanistan is appreciated by the.