On August 24, Turkish military entered Syria in a move that Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called a ‘Turning Point’ in anti-ISIS fight (Turkey’s army and Turkish-backed militants are going to retake the Syrian city of Jarablus from ISIS). But how do other involved sides react?
United States
The US Air Force will provide air support to Turksih-led forces during the operation “Euphrates Shield” aimed to retake Jarablus in northern Syria, Reuters repoted on August 24, citing a senior U.S. official. The announcement comes hours after the Turkish invasion was launched.
Another prominent US media outlet, Wall Street Journal, repoted hours later that the predominatly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces will not recieve US support if the decide to also advance on Jarablus. The report cited another “senior” source in the US administration. WSJ:
“We don’t want a direct clash between those forces and the Turks,” the official said. “That’s not a good scenario for anybody. We’ve made that clear to the Turks.”
The U.S. official expressed confidence the operation “put a lid” on worries about Kurdish advances by making it clear to them that they wouldn’t receive American military support if they tried to take Jarabulus.
The US State Department has to provide an official comment yet.
Syria
The Syrian government has condemned Turkey’s decision to send forces across the Syrian border and considered this move a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, SANA news agency reported Wednesday citing a senior Foreign Ministry source.
“Syria condemns the movement of tanks and armored vehicles from Turkey across the border toward the town of Jarablus, with air support from the US coalition, and considers this to be a blatant violation of sovereignty,” the source said. “What is happening in Jarablos now isn’t fighting terrorism as Turkey claims; rather it is replacing one type of terrorism with another.”
According to SANA Syria requests putting an end to this aggression and calls Turkey and the US-led coalition to respect international resolutions, particularly those related to closing borders and drying up the sources of terrorism.
Meanwhile, Saleh Muslim, head of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) said that Turkey would get bogged down in a quagmire and ultimately be defeated. He also blaimed Turkey for targeting Syrian Kurds through “direct” fighting on the ground (while the Turkish military and Turkish-backed militants are sotrming an ISIS-controlled site). Spokesman for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Redur Xelil, called Turkey’s move “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs.”
The YPG, the Kurdish police, Asayish, are armed branches of the PYD. In turn, the US-backed group known as “Syrian Democratic Forces” consists of mostly YPG units.
Recently, these forces celebrated a “victory” (according to Kurdish media outlets) over the Syrian government forces in Hasakah. (Read more here)
Iraq
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has to provide an official comment yet.
The head of the autonomous Iraqi autonomous Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani said on August 24 that Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey had agreed on a strategy to fight ISIS.
“We have agreed with Turkey on a strategy and methods to fight Daesh. The region is on the verge of major changes,” Barzani said, as cited by NTV.
Russia, Iran
Russia and Iran have to provide official comments yet. There are also no unofficial comments.
So this article confirms this invasion of Syria is 100% NATO and 100% what Israel has been wanting for decades.