Turkish bombardment continues prior to a Turkish ground advance over the border.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened to “open the gates” for Syrian refugees in his country to migrate to Europe if the continent’s leaders label Turkey’s military campaign in north-eastern Syria an “occupation”. Erdoğan warned EU states he would “open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees your way” during a combative speech at a meeting of lawmakers from his Justice and Development party. He rebuked critics of the operation in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and said Isis fighters who were captured would be imprisoned in Turkey if their home countries refused to claim them. As he spoke, Turkish soldiers and their allies were clashing with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces in border towns during the second day of an offensive that has caused tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes. “Betrayal leaves the bitterest taste,” one Kurdish man waiting at a roadside depot told the Guardian correspondent Martin Chulov of the US decision to abandon the country’s Kurds. “I am 63 years old and I have never seen anything like this. Before there was regime oppression and now we are getting betrayal. This is worse.”
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Arsonist discusses price of gasoline.