Turkey launched a ground invasion of northern Syria on Sunday, moving armored units across the border in order to purge U.S.-allied Kurdish forces from the area.
The incursion into Syria’s northwest Afrin region is meant to clear out a 30km (19-mile) “safe zone” inside Syria, free of the Kurdish YPG militia. Turkey considers the YPG to be an arm of the Kurdish PKK in Turkey, which Washington and Ankara have designated as a terrorist organization. However, the group is also a key partner in the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS.
Turkey’s ground operation, ironically dubbed “Olive Branch,” follows a barrage of artillery and air strikes that targeted YPG militia in Afrin. The Turkish military said Sunday it has destroyed at least 150 targets — including shelters, hideouts and arsenals — and that artillery fire was ongoing, reports Reuters.
Turkey’s incursion is a direct challenge to Washington, which has openly supported the Kurdish militia against ISIS and which has made the YPG a critical part of its plans for a long-term U.S. presence in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the other hand, has vowed to wipe out the Kurdish presence along Syria’s border with Turkey, in direct opposition to Washington’s plans for the region.
U.S. officials have urged Turkey to restrain its offensive against the Kurds in Syria and focus on destroying the remnants of ISIS instead. Military intervention against Syrian Kurds will undermine regional stability and worsen Turkey’s border security environment, a State Department official said Friday, according to Reuters.
But Ankara appears committed to sustained attacks against Kurdish forces in Syria’s northern border region. Erdogan said the offensive in Afrin will push east into the Manbij region, creating a buffer zone between the PKK in Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria.
Such a campaign would run the risk of pitting the Turkish military directly against U.S.-trained YPG militia in Manbij, where Washington is building a 30,000-strong “border security force” to prevent the return of ISIS. The creation of the border force infuriated Erdogan, who called it an “army of terror” and vowed to “drown” the U.S.-backed force.
ALSO WATCH:
The Turkish offensive, which includes elements of the pro-Ankara Free Syrian Army, now threatens to open a new front in Syria’s notoriously complex civil war. The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the incursion is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, but it also has a common interest in containing U.S.-backed forces ensconced in northern part of the country.
Russia, Assad’s most powerful backer, has said it will only respond if the Turkish operation threatens Russian bases in Syria, reports the BBC.
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