Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch a unilateral offensive into northeastern Syria if plans to establish a so-called safe zone along Turkey’s border fail to meet his expectations, including a demand that Turkish soldiers control the corridor.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US had up to three weeks to satisfy Turkish demands.Earlier in August, Turkish and US officials agreed to set up the zone east of the Euphrates River. Ankara wants US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, considered terrorists by Turkey, to pull back from the border.

Turkey has been pressing to control in coordination with the US a 19-25 mile deep zone within civil war-ravaged Syria, running east of the Euphrates all the way to the border with Iraq.