Turkey-Syria offensive: Kurds reach deal with Syrian army

[Yankee-stani]

The Kurds in Syria say the Syrian government has agreed to send its army to the northern border to try to halt Turkey's offensive against them.

Syrian state media earlier reported that government forces had been deployed to the north.

It follows the US decision to pull all its remaining troops from the area over the "untenable" situation there.

The Turkish assault, launched last week, is aimed at forcing Kurdish forces from along the border area.

Areas under control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main US ally in the area, have come under heavy bombardment over the weekend, with Turkey making gains in two key border towns.

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Dozens of civilians and fighters have been killed on both sides.

In a separate development on Sunday, Kurdish officials said nearly 800 relatives of foreign Islamic State (IS) members had escaped from Ain Issa, a camp in the north, as clashes raged nearby.

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The Turkish offensive and US withdrawal has drawn an international outcry, as the SDF were the main Western allies in the battle against IS in Syria.


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But Turkey views the Kurdish groups within the force as terrorists and says it wants to drive them away from a "safe zone" reaching 30km into Syria.

It also plans to resettle more than three million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey within the zone. Many of them are not Kurds. Critics have warned this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population.

What do we know about the deal?
The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria said the Syrian army would deploy along the entire length of the border as part of the agreement.

This deployment would assist the SDF in countering "this aggression and liberating the areas that the Turkish army and mercenaries had entered", it said in a statement.

The move also "paves the way to liberate the rest of the Syrian cities occupied by the Turkish army such as Afrin", it added.

Turkish forces and pro-Turkey Syrian rebels forced Kurdish fighters from Afrin back in 2018 after a two-month operation.

The deal represents a significant shift in alliances for the Kurds, after losing the military protection of their long-term US partners in the area.

It is not yet known what the Syrian government has committed to.

However SDF chief Mazloum Abdi acknowledged "there would be painful compromises" with the Assad government and its Russian allies, in a piece for Foreign Policy magazine.

"We do not trust their promises. To be honest, it is hard to know whom to trust," he writes.

"But if we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people."

The deal follows US President Donald Trump's surprise move last week to pull dozens of troops from pockets in the north-east, effectively paving the way for the Turkish operation against the Kurdish fighters.

At the time, the SDF called the move "a stab in the back".

What about the latest US withdrawal?
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper earlier announced the Pentagon was moving up to 1,000 troops away from the north after learning that Turkey was pushing further into Syria than previously expected.

Describing the situation there as "untenable", he said the SDF had been "looking to cut a deal" with the Syrian government and Russia to counter the Turkish attack.

Media captionTurkey "likely intends" to push west and south, says US Defence Secretary Mark Esper
This, he continued, would leave the US forces stuck between "two opposing advancing armies".

Hours after Mr Esper's comments, Syria said it was deploying its forces to the north to "confront a Turkish aggression". It is not yet clear where exactly the troops are being sent.

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On Sunday, President Trump tweeted that it was "very smart" not to be involved in the fighting "for a change", saying engagement in Middle East conflict was a mistake.

What has Turkey seized so far ?
Turkey is pushing deeper into northern Syria.

On Sunday, President Erdogan said his forces had already captured 109 sq km (42 square miles) of territory, including 21 villages.

He told reporters the key border town of Ras al-Ain had come under Turkish control - though the SDF said they had pushed Turkish forces back to the town's outskirts.

Media captionTurkish-backed forces enter the border town of Tal Abyad
Mr Erdogan said Turkish forces had also besieged the town of Tal Abyad, some 120km (75 miles) away.

The UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Turkey was in almost complete control there.

Both Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad are key goals in the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish-led SDF forces.

Turkey also announced that its Syrian allies on the ground had seized a key motorway - called M4 - some 30-35km south of the border.

What are the casualty figures?
They're rising, with civilians killed on both sides of the border:

• More than 50 civilians and over 100 Kurdish fighters killed in north-eastern Syria, SOHR says
• SDF says the Kurdish forces' death toll is 56 and Turkey gives a higher figure of 440
• Eighteen civilians killed in southern Turkey, according to Turkish reports
• Four Turkish soldiers and 16 pro-Turkish Syrian fighters killed in Syria, Turkey says

Media captionThe BBC's Martin Patience explains what's behind the conflict
What about IS?
The fighting has spilled over to areas close to IS detainee camps.

Fears that Kurdish forces will be unable to keep IS prisoners confined appeared to have been realised when officials at the Ain Issa camp said nearly 800 relatives of foreign IS members had escaped.

Media captionAmira, Heba and Hamza are stranded, in danger and they want to come home
The SOHR said the number of people who fled was 100. It not known where they have fled to.

The camp holds about 12,000 displaced people, previously including nearly 1,000 foreign women and children with jihadist links.

• Will Islamic State re-emerge?

The SDF says it is currently holding more than 12,000 suspected IS members in seven prisons, and at least 4,000 of them are foreign nationals.

IS has claimed recent car bombings and on Saturday declared a new campaign in Syria.

Turkey says it will take responsibility for IS prisoners it finds during its offensive.

 

[Yankee-stani]

FILE PHOTO: Syrian government troops. © Sputnik / Mikhail Alaeddin

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Tensions are mounting in northern Syria as Damascus started moving its forces to face the Turkish troops that are carrying out an operation against the Kurds in the area, state news agency Sana reports.
The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria said in a statement that an agreement has been reached with Damascus for the Syrian government troops to be deployed along the border with Turkey.

READ MORE
Turkish-backed forces ‘CUT OFF US troops’ after seizing key highway in Syria
The Syrians will deploy to the strategic Kurdish-held border town of Kobani within 48 hours, Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen reported. RT’s sources in the region also confirmed the reports.

The Syrian army already entered the city of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo late on Sunday, al-Mayadeen reported. The Kurd militiamen let the government troops pass through their checkpoints unhampered.The distance between Manbij and Kobani is around 60 milometers, a one-hour car drive.

Turkey is going to come under intense pressure now that Syrian troops are heading to the north, believes Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

“The Syrian government is going to try to go across and get the oilfields, the gas fields that are so crucial for Syria’s economic well-being. Also, this is prime agricultural land as the Euphrates River flows down here. The Tabqa Dam that the Americans and the Kurds held, the Syrian government is going to want to take that back as well,” he listed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, would have to show off their best diplomatic skills to avoid an all-out war between their countries, Landis believes.

Earlier this week, the Turkish military entered northern Syria without consent from Damascus in order to fight the Kurdish militia in the Kobani region, whom Ankara regards as terrorists.

Turkey says the aim of the operation is to create a “safe zone” near its border to prevent the Kurdish fighters from making incursions into the country.

Before the start the Turkish operation, the US called back several dozen of its servicemen, who were embedded with the Kurdish forces. On Saturday, Donald Trump authorized a withdrawal of the remaining 1,000 US troops from Kobani so that they don’t get caught up between the warring sides.

The Kurds, who had been Washington’s main allies in fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) before, called the US move a betrayal.

 

[zartosht]

why are these IS rabid monkeys being housed and fed, and continue to remain a security threat?? this is absurd.

these are filthy terrorists, illegal combatants, and outright shi..t in "human" form.... these oxygen thieves deserve the same fate IS prisoners got.

something tells me they were being kept as a reserve force for the next American regime change adventure perhaps?? there is literally no other reason to keep these rabid animals alive.

at worse hand them over to the Syrian government. and let them answer to intelligence officers why they illegally entered Syrian soil to fight against its people, army and state in the name of ISIS?? they will be jealous of their "martyred" brethren humping their 72 goats in hell by the time they are done.

 

[type93]

why are these IS rabid monkeys being housed and fed, and continue to remain a security threat?? this is absurd.

these are filthy terrorists, illegal combatants, and outright shi..t in "human" form.... these oxygen thieves deserve the same fate IS prisoners got.

something tells me they were being kept as a reserve force for the next American regime change adventure perhaps?? there is literally no other reason to keep these rabid animals alive.

at worse hand them over to the Syrian government. and let them answer to intelligence officers why they illegally entered Syrian soil to fight against its people, army and state in the name of ISIS?? they will be jealous of their "martyred" brethren humping their 72 goats in hell by the time they are done.

turkey intends to liberate their isis allies by invading northern Syria. There is no coincidence that recent increase in isis activity is linked to the tirkish operation

 

[PakAlp]

Surprised at this agreement. The YPG has made a good choice. I hope SAA and Turkish army dont clash.

Here I was thinking Turkey must of had a secret agreement with the Syrian government and Russians before entering. This way Turkey would hand the safe Zone back to Syria after settling the 3 million refugees. Also Syrian government will fight the YPG to take back their territory and not let Syrian territory be used against Turkey. This would have suited Turkey alot better. Keep in mind the SAA is backed by Russia and it would be a mistake if Turkey declares war against Syria.

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

That was smart of the Kurds. Make both of their enemies fight each other.

 

[PakAlp]

That was smart of the Kurds. Make both of their enemies fight each other.

Unless Syrian government plans to overtake all YPG territory and Turkey only overtakes the safe zone and then settles all the refugees back and then hands the territory back to Syria. This way all the threat is eliminated.

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