The leader of the SDF recently warned that a Turkish attack will cause “a war in all of Syria”
July 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Syrian authorities have confirmed this Monday the deployment of soldiers in the towns of Ain Isa and Ain al Arab, located in the provinces of Raqqa and Aleppo, after an agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the face of threats of offensive by from Turkey.
According to information collected by the Syrian state news agency, SANA, “Syrian Army units have reinforced their positions in Ain Isa and Ain al Arab as part of the state’s efforts to establish security and stability throughout Syrian territory” .
The announcement has come just a few days after the leader of the SDF, Mazlum Abdi, indicated that the Kurdish forces had withdrawn from the area to allow their replacement by Syrian soldiers, before defending that the SDF had fulfilled its part in the 2019 ceasefire agreement.
“This time it will not be a war between the SDF and the Kurds, but it will be a war throughout Syria. The war will be with those who do not want the Syrian territory to be invaded,” he said, as reported by the Kurdish news agency. Mezopotamya.
Thus, he stressed that “the Turkish state continues its efforts, initiatives and threats on the border” and denounced that Ankara “has amassed troops in the border region.” “We think they haven’t attacked because they haven’t found the opportunity for themselves,” she said.
The SDF leader also indicated that “it is Turkey that has not complied with the agreement” reached in 2019, adding that the areas controlled by Kurdish forces were attacked hundreds of times with drones during the last month, killing six civilians.
“The areas occupied by Turkey have become a safe area for the Islamic State,” he stressed, after the death of its leaders Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Quraishi, and other senior officials in US operations in these areas.
In this regard, Abdi stressed that the SDF “cannot fight on two fronts” and warned that if Turkey launches an offensive –supported by the Free Syrian Army (FSA)–, “the joint fight will not be maintained — with the US-led coalition — against Islamic State.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed on June 1 “a new phase” in the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria against the Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) –the main member of the SDF–, which in this case it will focus on the cities of Tel Rifat and Manbij.
“We are entering a new phase of our decision to establish a safe zone 30 kilometers south (of the border between Turkey and Syria),” he said, before adding that the aforementioned towns will be “cleansed of terrorists” and criticizing that the United States The United States and Russia have not fulfilled their commitments to guarantee a buffer zone on the border.
Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the armed group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with a presence in Turkey. The YPG are in turn the backbone of the SDF, key in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.
For this reason, the Turkish Armed Forces launched ‘Operation Euphrates Shield’ in 2016 against the YPG with the support of the ELS, a coalition of rebel groups that Ankara supports in the framework of the war in Syria.
Subsequently, Ankara announced on March 29, 2017 the end of the operation, although they stressed that they would maintain their military intervention in Syria under another name. Also, in 2019 they launched ‘Operation Peace Spring’ against the YPG in the north of the country.
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