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On March 27, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started a push to capture the city of Tell Rifaat, located southeast of the city of Afrin in northern Syria.
When Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch started on January 20, a force led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) controlled Tell Rifaat. Later, the YPG shared control of the Tell Rifaat countryside with the National Defense Forces – a pro-government militia integrated within the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
According to pro-Turkish sources, by March 28, the TAF and the FSA had established control of Tell Rifaat, Minagh Air Base and Sheikh Isa. The villages of Deir Jamal, Kafranya and Sheikh Hilal had reportedly remained contested.
No clashes have been reported in the area. If this is true, Turkey and the Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance have likely reached a kind of behind the scenes deal handing over control of Tell Rifaat and its countryside to Ankara and its proxies. Earlier, Turkish top officials claimed that the military operation in Afrin will be finished only after the seizure of Tell Rifaat.
However, pro-YPG sources deny that the TAF is now in control of Tell Rifaat. The situation is unclear.
The SAA and the Tiger Forces are preparing to storm the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta as negotiations between the government and Jaish al-Islam, which controls the area, have shown a lack of progress over the last few days. According to pro-government sources, the operation may be stated soon if a reconciliation deal is not reached.
Earlier, the rest of the militant-held area of Eastern Ghouta was liberated by government troops by force and through a series of reconciliation deals. The deals allowed local militants to withdraw towards Idlib without heavy weapons or to settle their legal status under the Damascus governance.
The US is building a military base in the vicinity of the country’s largest oil field – the Omar oil field, Mehdi Kobani, a press secretary of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Deir Ezzor told Sputnik Turkiye on March 27.
“The US is building a large military base in the oil-rich Al Omar region of Deir ez-Zor province. Due to security concerns we cannot provide information about the acreage of this new installation. There is currently construction machinery working in the vicinity of the base, and security is being provided by SDF forces,” Kobani said.
First reports about the US military installation in the Omar oil field area appeared in the middle of March. Now, the SDF de-facto confirmed that its patron continues efforts to continue the occupation of eastern Syria.
Locals have started a series of protests in the village of Al-Mansoura in the province of Raqqah. The tensions reportedly erupted after the SDF arrested a leader of the local Arab tribe.
The SDF is a de-facto Kurdish-dominated group, controlled by the YPG and its political wing – the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PYD and PYD-linked “security forces” are actively working to establish their own rule in the SDF-held areas. These efforts are causing tensions with the local population.
CENTCOM seems a bit overly-protective of their stolen oil-field booty. Maybe this is going to be a base for training and equipping their Border Head-chopper Forces. It would provide an excuse for CENTCOM to move in heavy weapons and equipment for defense of their loot they took from the Syrian people, and give their fake-ISIS or Border Head-choppers a good base for staging future attacks on Syria.
Remember, the only ‘SDF’ types at this base will be Arabs – this is their turf. Plus a secret number of Americans. The Kurds might get the oil, but no way will local Arabs let the Kurds command them. The Kurds DO command the SDF (regardless of the Kurd/Arab mix of troops) and insist they always will. Border Head-choppers is just a US ruse to get around the Kurdish control, otherwise local head-choppers like the Deir EzZor Military Council wouldn’t join.
Kurdds need to be wiped of power.
Just remember that when SAA-Hezbiolah-Iran-Russia ground troops arrived to Deir Ezzor, they hat plenty of time and weapons to stop SDF advance to Omar Oil field, and they did NOTHING to stop them. The same happened in Al Mayadim, and the same again in AL Bukamal. Therefore, the actual partition of Syria land looks like more an USA-Russia agreement.
“The US is building a large military base in the oil-rich Al Omar region of Deir ez-Zor province. Due to security concerns we cannot provide information about the acreage of this new installation.” Question… Does Russia have no satellites of it’s own? If I were Russia, these American terrorists wouldn’t use the toilet without pictures for the world to see.