– Kurdish Fighters Strike Deal With Syrian Army To Drive Turks Out:
Confirming that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”, YPG Kurdish fighters in north-western Syria – who as a reminder are backed by the US, the country which for 7 years has waged a proxy war to overthrow president Bashar al Assad – have struck a deal with the Russia-backed Assad regime for Syrian forces to enter the Afrin region and repel a Turkish offensive which began last month.
Badran Jia Kurd, an advisor to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria told Reuters that Syrian troops will deploy along several border positions and could enter the region within the next two days: “we can cooperate with any side that lends us a helping hand in light of the barbaric crimes and the international silence,” Jia Kurd said.
Meanwhile, a conflicting report from a senior Kurdish official comes from YPG representative Brusk Hasake in Afrin, who told Sputnik News “We have repeatedly said that Syrian Army has not entered [and] will not enter Afrin. If there is an agreement we will make a statement [on it].”
As we reported at the time, Turkish ground forces crossed the Syrian border and pushed into northern Syria’s Afrin province on January 20, after Ankara launched artillery and air strikes on a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia it aims to sweep from its border as part of “Operation Olive Branch.”
This an image through the lens of YPG and it is the headquarters for the so called ‘Olive Branch Operation’ inside Kirikhan district of #Hatay that was targeted by Kurdish Forces yesterday. pic.twitter.com/4h8l8Qozdi
— Afarin Mamosta (@Afarin_Mamosta_) February 18, 2018
Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters from the YPG – which receives funding from the United States to fight the Islamic State, to be terrorists.
Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd told Reuters that Syrian government forces could enter the Afrin region within days to repel the Turks, while Syrian state TV reports that Regime forces will enter “within hours.”
#BREAKING Regime forces will enter #Afrin area ‘within hours’: Syrian State TV
— Guy Elster (@guyelster) February 19, 2018
Meanwhile, reports on #Turkey airstrikes in the area, as rebels claim to take more villages and positions in #Afrin #OperationOliveBranch
— Guy Elster (@guyelster) February 19, 2018
Assuming the deal has been reached between the YPG and Assad, Turkish forces will have quite the fight on their hands as they will now be fighting forces backed by both the US and Russia at the same time. Furthermore, the return of Syrian forces to the region would mark the first time Syrian President Bashar as-Assad’s troops have set foot in Kurdish territory since a 2012 withdrawal.
Shortly after the retreat, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) quickly took charger, backed by its militia – the People’s Protection Units (YPG) currently threatened by Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch. The YPG is responsible for clearing ISIS fighters from large portions of Syria.
Turkey claims that the YPG is an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has battled the Turkish government for three decades over Kurdish autonomy in Turkey. The YPG denies any political or military links with the PKK.
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