On Wednesday 12 December, at a defence industry summit in Ankara, Turkish President Erdogan announced he will launch a new military operation in northern Syria against Kurdish militia fighters, supported by US troops and considered as terrorists by Turkish government. Up until now, Turkish attacks have never gone east of the river, partly to avoid direct confrontation with the US, but Erdogan stated: “We will start the operation to clear the east of the Euphrates from separatist terrorists in a few days”, while recalled that “our target is never U.S. soldiers”. He then added: “There is no threat named Daesh in Syria anymore. This is a fairytale”.