Turkey on Wednesday warned it will launch a new operation in Syria within days against US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria, risking renewed tensions with NATO ally the United States. Addressing a defense industry meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the target of the operation would be the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG - which Turkey views as a terrorist group linked to the insurgency within its borders. Washingtons relationship with the YPG, seen as a key partner spearheading the fight against terrorists in Syria, is a major bone of contention between the US and Turkey. Ankara has repeatedly lambasted Washington for providing military support to the militia and threatened to attack areas held by the YPG. Erdogan announced the plans for a new offensive a day after the Pentagon said observation posts were in place on the Syria-Turkey border to prevent altercations between the Turkish army and the militia. "We will start an operation to free the east of the Euphrates from the separatist terrorist organization in the next few days," Erdogan said, referring to territory held by the YPG. Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. "The target is never American soldiers but terrorist organization members active in the region," Erdogan told the audience at a defense industry summit. The Pentagon on Tuesday announced the posts establishment on the northeast Syria border region despite calls from Ankara not to go ahead with the move. Erdogan claimed Turkey was not being protected from terrorists but "terrorists were being protected" from possible action by Turkey. In October, Turkey shelled YPG positions east of the Euphrates in the Kobane region. Youssef Hammoud, spokesman for a coalition of pro-Ankara rebels, said the aim of a new operation would be to remove the YPG from an area spanning Manbij to Tal Abyad. American forces have worked closely with the YPG under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance against the ISIS terrorist group. US forces have joined the SDF east of the Euphrates as well as in the flashpoint city of Manbij, west of the river. In a bid to avoid any clash, the NATO allies agreed a "roadmap" for Manbij in June. In November, Turkish and American troops launched joint patrols in the northern city. Part of the agreement was that the YPG would leave Manbij and that the NATO allies would work together to establish a local security structure and decide who will govern. But Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey "still not got the result it wanted" in Manbij. "There has been a delaying tactic undeniably used in Manbij, and right now it is still being used," he said, adding that the threat from ISIS no longer existed in Syria.