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The situation in the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and al-Hasakah is once again escalating amid speculations on the upcoming Turkish advance in the area.
In recent weeks, the Turkish military and its proxies increased the intensity of strikes on positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and even on nearby positions of the Syrian Army along the contact line in the northeast of Syria. For example, on the evening of December 6, Turkish strikes hit a position of the Syrian Army near Tall Tamr destroying a BMP vehicle and reportedly injuring or killing several soldiers. Meanwhile, fighters affiliated with the SDF attacked a position of the Turkish Army near Bab al-Khayr. According to pro-Kurdish sources, 2 Turkish soldiers were allegedly killed or injured in the attack. On the same day, the Turkish military and its proxies launched over 150 artillery shells at targets near and inside the town of Ain Issa. The shelling that lasted for several hours reportedly killed at least one SDF member and injured several others.
The activity of Turkish forces near Ain Issa was permanently high in the last few months but in recent weeks the situation deteriorated even further. A nearby observation post of the Russian Military Police and a position of the Syrian Army did not stop the Turks from violating the ceasefire. In its own turn, pro-Ankara sources insist that the tensions in the region are a result of regular sabotage attacks by the SDF and affiliated Kurdish rebels near Ain Issa itself and in entire northern part of Syria in general. For example, Kurdish groups linked with the SDF regularly inflict casualties on Turkish forces and their proxies in Afrin. While publicly the SDF pretends that it is not linked with these attacks, nobody with at least one brain cell believes in this.
The strong SDF links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist armed group that seeks to create an independent Kurdish state on the territory of southeastern Turkey, and if it is possible northern Iraq and northern Syria, also does not contribute to stability. Turkey sees the group as a vital threat to its national security. Recently, the SDF Commander-in-Chief Ferhat Abdi Şahin officially confirmed that at least 4,000 PKK members died in the battles in Syria fighting on the side of the SDF. Abdi, better known by his nom de guerre Mazloum Kobani, is himself a senior member of the PKK and a personal friend of the group’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999.
So, there is no surprise that Ankara sees claims of the United States leadership and SDF officials that the Kurdish-led group is not an offshoot of the PKK, but a ‘democratically-oriented multiethnic alliance’ as a bad joke and the highest level of hypocrisy. In these conditions, the fate of the SDF is predetermined and the group remains under the permanent threat of a large-scale Turkish military attack.
At the same time, the main backer of the SDF, the United States, has never hurried up to openly back the group against its own important ally in the Middle East and a member of NATO. Therefore, on the one hand, in its actions, the SDF relies on US support and has been consistently sabotaging Damascus’ proposals on the political and security reintegration into Syria. On the other hand, the Kurdish-led group has already lost a large part of the territories that it had controlled as a result of Turkish attacks.
This posture led to expected results and the last time the SDF even asked the Russians and the Syrian Army to rescue it from the Turkish advance in the northeast. The deployment of the Russian and Syrian units along the contact line put an end to Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in 2019. Immediately after this, the Kurds turned their back on their rescuers and started cooperation with Washington in the field looting Syrian oil on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Now, when the situation near Ain Issa is once again on the brink of military confrontation with Turkey, pro-SDF media have been crying and complaining about the alleged Russian demand to surrender the town to the Syrian Army to prevent the escalation. SDF sources call this ‘unfair’ and ‘unacceptable’.
It looks like that for the current Kurdish SDF leadership on Washington’s payroll it would be more acceptable to lose another chunk of territory and provoke a bloodbath than to finally normalize relations with Damascus.
turkey and syria need to clear out the kurds asap, and return them to be tenants on the border – no sovereignty for the kurds.
crap again.
This is possibly the worst article I have read this week.
now if you don’t like the article why tell me that that is the case since I’m quite happy with it. get your head straight pls.
kurd runner?
Referance to “Blade Runner 2049”. Watch it, great movie.
I love the graphics you guys come up with. I always get a good laugh. Keep it up.
Kurds there dont want a united Kurdish state. Not even PKK and YPG does.
But they do like normal conditions for devellopments in their areas, which are denyed them. Both Syria and Turkey has no structures for that. Well, Turks might have but its denied by AKP and Erdogan, so they can remain in seats.
In Turkey its the same for all. Even the 3 major towns hardly rules themself even they are bigger then many small countries. Its close to dictatorship and all is dont by Erdo and AKP to remain like Ottoman Crusaders.
The Ottomans has many priblems, but they accepted many nationalities and etnicities better then the hardcore nationalisme from after WW1.
It was impossible to see where Kurds lived as a state of themself or parts should be like that. But it also was a bigger mistake to divide Aleppo, Raqqa and Diabykir Prtovinses to 2 new states.
Ita about the same for Syria. Its an artificial konglomarate of the worst biased version. We can blame France and the oil for that – BUT we should blame the ones, which with weapons isiste in states and borders, whcih they have seen is no good.
Even Lebanon i s a very limited succes.
I can only only see those “in the middle” should be themself in smaller states, emirates, sultatnates whatever. They are not Ankara, Damaskus and Bagdad. The rulers there only can condem and fight whats going on there.
You have to compromise and accept to be part of a federation or state to advance and survive. Except for like china which has a vast majority of the same people, others like india and russia have hundreds of different groups. And looking at the benefits of protection and sustainability overcomes the short coming of having to not have your own country. A bunch of small countries and are at war all the time. Larger countries means less effort for defense.. kurds need to recognize this.. Even if they get a country, how long will it last? Will the US support it like it does israel? neither entities would last long if not for the amount of money and support it get. Armenia is another example.. They still sort of think they are en empire even after getting close to being wiped out and they would if not for Russia.. What happens when they alienate russia enough that they pack up and leave? Unlike nepal another small country that has defeated the chinese and indians, its been thousands of years since armenia has defeated anyone..
You are like most high manipulated there.
Kurds in none of those 4 countries demand that . GET IT – GET IT. There are no such plan.
So someone has to print it for You an put it up i Your behinds, which seemes close to Your brains.
The Kurds by PYS/YPG for Syria has proposed local independesy for local matters. Yhey are not even majority there apart from the N.E. part. GET IT.
Some 40% Kurds in the SDF region should not run the 60. They never had said so. By that they would be exact like Assads having much less then 50% and Erdogan hardly having 49%.
They want CHANGE TO THE BETTER BY CREATING LOCAL INDEPENDENSY BY MAKING LOCAL PARLAMENTS BASED ON LOCAL CITICENS AND PTOBATLY 50% OF THE TAXED paid by th3emself spoended as they wish by themself. …………………………………………………………………………….
After many years You still are in what people like Assad and Erdogan tell You, they say. But Kurds has had those dreams for decades and its still ignored by You.
You are as talking to a TV about it.
And even if they became real countries, which is a proposal of mine, they are not that small compared to many other countries.
You can find many other countries nearbye like Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, Kuwait, Bahrein, UAE(if 3) ……………………………………………………………………………
You relations to what countries are also is a fake illusion because I want to make areas, so people can be citicens there and stay in peace. PEACE PEACE PEACE.
I kind of dont caqre if they are poor or not, but I do know those areas are poor because of they are made into dark hostile corners, which Turks, Assads and Bagdads dont care about aprt from getting oil and gas from there. ……………………………………………………………………………
And You really dont get how things are. Many here in my part of the world would like to help people, which actually has realistic devellopmen plans for Kurds.
Here those areas are blocked by the 3 mentioned above. BLOCKED. The SDF Kurds even are blamed for stealig their own oil. Before ISIS took it, they got NOTHING. The Baathists took all and didnt spend as much as one lira in that region unless it wasnt for oil and gas. NOTHING. ……………………………………………………………………………
Another lying illusion is comparing with Israel. But some mainly very poor farmers are not possibe close to the starvation level is not possible to compare with a high tech state named Israel. The. The level is Kurds and others are leaving those areas and urbanize to no jobs in the big towns of Syria, so their main improvements are making enogh food and a little morein their dayli life. Here they have plans for reforms and edúcations for the farmers in a very low level wishing themself, they in most years can get and income by some small exports as well as they fx agai caqn make clothe in a semi modern version. ……………………………………………………………………………….
The local parlments in their models – which are semilar to mine in Denmark – represent all by % and all can make political parties. If there are very small minorities, they always will get one seat, from where they can speak and listen.
There are decided other plans for Raqqa, Tabqa and “northern” DEZ. Those decide by themself where they want to be connected to and can be protected against Assads if they choose to. They can not be runned bu ISIS or FSA and by that Jihadisme. Its sekularisme.
USA and Turkey has changed parts of that very much, but that was the plans until USA retreated and Turks invaded letting in Assads to SDF as miitary helping hands. …………………………………………………………..
Its very hard for me to see Yourversion of succes in the dayli life there. 5 million has not even been in the country. I see no plans by Assads for any improvements. I see no good intensions from Erdogan as well as what the shiits doi norther Iraq. …………………………………………………………..
No devbare is allowed. I only hear the same that Assads are security against the Johadisme as wel´l as Kurdish Marxists are not good.
But most of the rest of the whole world do have other systems, so why choose between Assads and Jihadisme.
Nothing importan can be debate here at all. iducation to raise the level NO. Women educated as equal citicens NO.
Any plans for the future NO. All is killing for honor and revenge from all as if there are many gods and they are represented for all sides supporting winners. But they do support loosers.
The onl winnders are the dead ones, which finally has got peace in their graves or maybee in the many heavens You have created too.
Finally Im tired of Yours all the time are blaming others even You produce most of the dirt and not even clean that up Yourself.
everything is an artificial conglomerate–do u have anything to say?
“For example, Kurdish groups linked with the SDF regularly inflict casualties on Turkish forces and their proxies in Afrin. While publicly the SDF pretends that it is not linked with these attacks, nobody with at least one brain cell believes in this.”
LOL, Nobody with more than one brain cell should believe this bad piece of propaganda, I follow what the ALF say and do and they definitely don’t cooperate with the SDF at all, the ALF actually call the Kurds in the SDF traitors and turncoats, so unless they’ve changed their attitude lately I don’t think they’ve been cooperating as this propaganda piece suggests. I know a lot of Kurds have defected from the SDF to join the ALF, and many of them took their weapons with them, so that’s about the only link between the SDF and the ALF that I’m aware of, though in saying that things may have changed recently that I’m not aware of yet, but I still doubt their BS assertion, all the rest of the article is total BS as well so I doubt this first claim is anything other than bad propaganda too. And what about this whopper that most of us should realize is pure propaganda,
“So, there is no surprise that Ankara sees claims of the United States leadership and SDF officials that the Kurdish-led group is not an offshoot of the PKK, but a ‘democratically-oriented multiethnic alliance’ as a bad joke and the highest level of hypocrisy. In these conditions, the fate of the SDF is predetermined and the group remains under the permanent threat of a large-scale Turkish military attack.”
For a start the SDF is about 100,000 strong and less than half of them are ethnic Kurds, the vast majority of the rest are Sunni Arabs, some Turkmen, and some Christians [who can’t fight for shit], and possibly a few other minority groups, so it’s a myth to say they’re not ethnically, religiously, and politically diverse. And the SNC which is a member of the Turkish backed headchopper Syrian Interim Government, recently entered a power sharing deal with the SDC/SDF, which means the Kurds have been bending over backwards lately trying to appease Turkey, it’s nearly sickening to see them grovel to him like they have. So the Kurds have actually been on their best behavior lately, not causing trouble, and the fact they entered a power sharing deal with the SNC just as resolution 2254 kicks off next month explains a lot to me. When Erdogan’s resolution 2254 is implemented the US controlled autonomous zone will also be included in the end product, the Syrian constitution will be rewritten and Assad won’t be able to stop them including provisions for autonomous political entities in the new Government, Syria will become a carbon copy of Iraq, but instead of one autonomous Government, Syria will probably end up with 2, and if that doesn’t happen the headchoppers will still get into the Syrian Government anyway. So What the hell is Erdogan’s problem, he’s getting everything he ever hoped for and he’s still threatening to invade again, he seems to be the proverbial black hole that’s never ever satisfied. Russia does everything so well in southern Syria but up here in the north when it comes to dealing with Turkey it’s the opposite, Russia has probably become just as much of a problem as the Turks or the US, I suspect this is all just a clever ploy by Erdogan and Putin to convince the SDF to leave certain areas to let the Turks expand their territory, but I’d prefer to see the Kurds and SAA cooperate and kick the Turks and their SNA headchoppers out altogether.
more CIA propaganda–SDF=90% Kurd
It used to be 100% Kurdish before 2017, not anymore it isn’t, if you don’t trust me then listen to what Assad says. And as I said in my comment, many Kurds left the SDF when the Turks invaded north east Syria, and then they either joined the ALF in the western territory, or went home and formed/joined local defense forces in their own territories of origin. The SDF was down to a force of only 60,000 at one stage. You people have to stop saying “CIA propaganda” every time someone tells you something you don’t know, you should instead go and do some research, then come back and cry CIA troll if you’re still sure it’s just CIA propaganda. I support Syria, the Syrian people, and the Assad Government, which means whoever’s either helping or hindering those parties I’ll either call it out or applaud it, whether it’s ally or foe or anyone in between, and sometimes I find it hard to distinguish friend from foe lately.