Turkish aircraft have tried to enter Syrian airspace in the north of Aleppo province, but have been stopped by Syrian and Russian military. Turkey plans to move deeper into the Syrian territory, despite sharp reaction of Damascus and Syrian Kurds.
Photo: karar.com
Turkish fighter jets tried to enter Syrian airspace in the north of Aleppo province, but turned around after warnings from Syrian and Russian military, the Sputnik news agency reported, citing a source in the security forces. There are no reports about any other details of the incident.
Meanwhile, Ankara announced plans to expand its military operation in Syria, including the cities of al-Bab and Manbij.
Russia is not against further steps of Turkey, which announced its intention to move deeper into the Syrian territory, fighting against terrorism, however, Moscow insists on maintaining the country’s territorial integrity, the Izvestiya newspaper reported, citing sources in the Federation Council. At the same time, new plans of Ankara have met sharp reaction of Damascus and Syrian Kurds.
It is needed to focus all potential efforts on the fight against terrorism in Syria, at the same time, it is crucial that actions of various players should not lead to a collapse of the country, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Foreign Affairs, Andrey Klimov, told the newspaper, commenting on statements of the Turkish authorities regarding Ankara’s plans to move deep into Syrian territory in order to dislodge terrorists from al-Bab, located in Aleppo province, 35 km north-east of the administrative center.
“Now, all potential efforts should be focused on suppression of the main threat – terrorists. Anyone, who works to achieve this goal, makes a useful contribution. As of today, the Turkish Army is engaged in this. But we must not forget that we are talking about the sovereign territory of Syria. The fact that Turkey operates without permission of the Syrian authorities, is bad. In this regard, it is crucial that any operational progress should not lead to split of the country,” Klimov stressed.
Speaking of Syrian Kurds, who also become a target of attacks of the Turkish Army, the senator noted that they “seek an autonomy within Syria, and, possibly, also a separation from it in the future. And Russia supports the territorial integrity of the country.”
On October 26, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that goals of the military operation, which country’s troops are conducting in Syria, are the cities of al-Bab and Manbij. At the same time, the Turkish leader noted that Ankara has no plans on Aleppo.
Since August, Manbij, located 90 km to the north-east of Aleppo, is under control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), consisting mainly of Kurdish units. Before, the city was occupied by terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group, which was driven away by Kurds after several weeks of fighting. Al-Bab is still under control of terrorists. After recapturing of Manbij, the SDF were going to move to the city of al-Bab, a representative of the Democratic Alliance Syrian Kurdish party in Russia, Abd Salam Ali told Izvestiya in August.
If the SDF managed to implement its plans, they would form a ‘Kurdish belt’ along the Syrian-Turkish border. However, the plans of Kurds did not come true because a few days after taking Manbij, Turkey announced the beginning of the Euphrates Shield operation and sent its troops to the Syrian territory.
According to Abd Salam Ali, cleaning of the Syrian territory and, in particular, al-Bab city from terrorists is just a pretext; a real target of Turkey is Kurds. He also noted that fierce clashes between Kurds, the Turkish Army and militants, controlled by Ankara, are currently ongoing in the area of Afrin.
“We are not going just to give up. In this regard, we are confused by the position of Russia and the US, which do not react to the actions of Ankara,” Abd Salam Ali said.
Meanwhile, Damascus does not believe the Ankara’s assurances on Aleppo, and thinks that after capturing of al-Bab, Turkish troops will start to move themselves and pull the so-called ‘moderate’ opposition to the side of this city.
As a Syrian retired Brigadier General Ali Maqsood said, Ankara cannot and will not fight against the IS, which it was supporting for a long time.
“Stating its claims on al-Bab , Turkey has two goals. The first one – do not allow the SDF to continue its moving in the direction of Afrin and to form the ‘Kurdish belt’ on the Syrian-Turkish border in this way. The second goal is an access to Aleppo,” Maqsood told the newspaper.
He also noted that the distance between al-Bab and Aleppo is a little more than 30 km, and if Turks manage to realize their plans, the Syrian Army, which has surrounded terrorists in the eastern part of the city, will be struck from two directions: from Idlib, the southwest, where the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (previously known as the Al-Nusra Front) terrorist group operates, and from al-Bab, the northeast.
So the question is , can Putin bring Erdogan to a semblance of common sense ?
Putin is using the Turks and Kurds against each other. The Turks couldn’t resist attacking the Kurds, and the Kurds are willing to fight to keep the Turks from advancing. Lacking air cover on top of that, the Turkish advance, which was previously unhindered beyond the need to put on convincing theatre with their IS friends, is now substantially slowed without Russia having to be in a confrontation with Turkey. Russia threatened everyone else’s aircraft too, so the Turks aren’t being singled out.
Meanwhile, Putin wants to put pressure on the Kurds, which the Turks are unwittingly doing for him. The Kurds have been sitting on the fence, on the one hand talking about a federal Rojava in a unified Syria without regime change, and on the other, making deals with the Americans, who want to a fractured Syria and the overthrow of Assad. He wants them to make up their mind, and understand that there really is only one decent offer available, which is federated Rojava under Assad, because the Americans aren’t really reliable allies.
In essence, what he is doing here is what he has been doing everywhere else: showing the world, and especially both America’s long-standing and would-be allies that America can’t be trusted, it’s promises are illusionary, and they won’t be there when it counts; Russia however, while it isn’t offering anyone the Moon, or anything beyond the exact letter of any agreement made, is good to its word and doesn’t expect you to join it’s vassal alliance for the privilege of doing business. That is an image Russia has been trying to establish for years, and a crucial underpinning of the multi-polar world Putin outlined at the Munich security conference nine years ago. And that is also the reason behind Russia’s often frustratingly slow approach. There is a much larger, longer term goal than Syria or the Middle East at stake here, and it is necessary for Russia to establish itself as a patient, stable champion of international law and international cooperation, even in complicated, multi-sided disputes, in contrast to the rash, chaotic and mercenary approach of the USA.
Excellent analysis. Russia would have to play it cool, it acknowledges the Middle East is a major mix-up and there are long running rivalries it will have to stay out of while ensuring Assad stays in office. The resulting mess by the western banking Cabal means Syria might not have the same borders as before even as Assad is still in power.
War always has unintended consequences, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
It does looks possible that Turkey could launch a full-scale offensive against Syria once they no longer can seize territories w/ little opposition.
Russian intervention should have happened in response to the intervention against Libyain 2011 and not stopped until every jihadist rests in roasted pieces. The US and EU should have been warned that a coup in Kiev would lead to immediate military intervention.
I doubt they will or can. At the moment, they are struggling with even ISIS held territories… look, even their advance to Al Bab is anything but fast. they won’t do an all-out military attach because too much real turkish presence that can really threaten Syrian army will certainly draw a response from the russians. secondly, they don’t dare attack SAA nor was that ever their rethoric. and lastly, there is the issue of the turkish army itself. it has been shocked and beaten into submission after the failed coup, but at the cost of – presumably, as it always is – the most talented officers. and lastly, Turks may welcome intervention in Syria, but once their kids start coming home in bodybags, popular opinion tends to change. so, full-scale operation has no real sense.
SAA with Russian axis should take over Al-Bab before Turks came, it should become leverage bargain with Turks and Kurdish to behave. Turkish statement about Aleppo withdraw after deal ISIS was nonsense, especially Sultan Erdogan said Aleppo and Mosul was belong to the Turks. Seems Turkish learn some ‘good’ step PR lying lesson from murican.
It is Turkey that needs to partition to allow the Kurds their place to live. That was the Ottoman promise in 1915 to the Kurds in exchange for their assistance to eliminate the Armenians. The Kurds have now settled on those old Armenian lands but Turkey under Erdogan and his muslim brotherhood appear to be reneging on that century old agreement. The muslim brotherhood desperately seeks to be as tough and austere as the wahabis so it seeks to take over Syrian lands with wahabi paid proxies.
At Erdogan’s rate of export market alienation and military expenditure Turkey will soon be bankrupt. There will be Turks on the streets demanding his head.
From the Turkish press: Turkish warplanes to not fly into Syria after threat by regime
“…On Oct. 20, the Syrian military warned that it would bring down any Turkish warplanes entering Syrian airspace, in response to airstrikes carried out by Turkey overnight in Maarrat Umm Hawsh in northern Aleppo…”
Looks like Syria means business with their new S-300s. This isn’t Russia threatening the Turkish AF, it’s the Syrian air defense forces.
“…The Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) advance toward Al-Bab has faltered due to the lack of Turkish airstrikes. The FSA has only been able to move 5 kilometers in the last three days, sources said on Oct. 28…”
The Turkish FSA is going nowhere without artillery or air support. That means no al Bab and no Manbij. They’re effectively not going anywhere beyond the 20km reach of Turkish artillery.
This makes Russia look weak, because Russia has already waned Turkey time after time for a year already. Russia should have not warned them for the 50th time, and simply allow them to come closer, and then shoot them down. They are after all NATO, and NATO needs to have fewer aircraft threatening Christian-Russia.
Turkey was so concern about their sovereignty and have shot down both Syria and Russian jets.Erdogan is playing a game by just making friendship with Russia just to gain access in Syrian teroterity and airspace under Russia Turkeys friendship.Turkeys Isis is Kurds according to them and USA Isis is Syrian army and Isis is Nato civilians.
Let Turkey army stays in Turkey it shouldnt be allowed to enter Syria.Turkey is USA Nato puppet promoting USA Nato oil interest agenda and world order through muslim depopulation.