<p class="title">Turkey's preparations for an offensive in northern Syria have been "completed", the defence ministry said Tuesday, after confusing signals from the US over whether it would allow an operation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Turkey's border with Syria on Sunday after a phone call with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Turkish president has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish militants in northern Syria due to their ties with separatists in his own country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"All of the preparations for an operation have been completed," the Turkish defence ministry tweeted, hours after US forces withdrew from the border area.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Erdogan had earlier said the operation could come at any moment "without warning".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's move was seen by critics as an abandonment of Kurdish forces which had been the key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But there was confusion later on Monday when Trump tweeted that he would "obliterate" Turkey's economy if it went too far.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay responded to Trump's threat on Tuesday, warning that "Turkey is not a country that will act according to threats".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As our president always stresses, Turkey will always set its own path and will take matters into its own hands," Oktay said in a speech in Ankara.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Turkey says it wants a "safe zone" along northern Syria to act as a buffer against Kurdish forces and also allow the return home of up to two million Syrian refugees.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It has previously launched two cross-border offensives against IS in 2016 and the YPG in 2018, with the support of Syrian rebels.</p>
<p class="title">Turkey's preparations for an offensive in northern Syria have been "completed", the defence ministry said Tuesday, after confusing signals from the US over whether it would allow an operation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Turkey's border with Syria on Sunday after a phone call with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Turkish president has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish militants in northern Syria due to their ties with separatists in his own country.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"All of the preparations for an operation have been completed," the Turkish defence ministry tweeted, hours after US forces withdrew from the border area.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Erdogan had earlier said the operation could come at any moment "without warning".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Trump's move was seen by critics as an abandonment of Kurdish forces which had been the key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But there was confusion later on Monday when Trump tweeted that he would "obliterate" Turkey's economy if it went too far.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay responded to Trump's threat on Tuesday, warning that "Turkey is not a country that will act according to threats".</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As our president always stresses, Turkey will always set its own path and will take matters into its own hands," Oktay said in a speech in Ankara.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Turkey says it wants a "safe zone" along northern Syria to act as a buffer against Kurdish forces and also allow the return home of up to two million Syrian refugees.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It has previously launched two cross-border offensives against IS in 2016 and the YPG in 2018, with the support of Syrian rebels.</p>