US faces showdown with Turkey over backing of Kurdish militia

LATEST

UPDATE 1955 GMT: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the US is forming a “terror army” along Turkey’s border with its plan to train a Kurdish-led force.

“What we are supposed to do is to drown this terror army before in comes into being,” he said in an address in Ankara. He called the Kurdish militia “back-stabbers” who will point their weapons at the US in the future.

Erdoğan declared that a Turkish assault on the Kurdish canton of Afrin in northwest Syria “may start any time” and promised “operations into other regions will come after”.

The US-led coalition has confirmed claims that it is planning a 30,000-troop, Kurdish-led border force for Syria.

The coalition verified details in an e-mail on Sunday. About half the force will be veterans of the Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Kurdish militia YPG, with recruiting for the other half under way.

Turkish officials have claimed for weeks that the US was preparing a large injection of resources and personnel for the force. Ankara considers the YPG, the militia of the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD), to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK.

The SDF was created in autumn 2015 to fight the Islamic State in the north and east of Syria. Switching its support from Syrian rebels, the US provided special forces, armored vehicles, and weapons. By October 2017, the SDF has pushed ISIS out of its major positions, culminating in the capture of the city of Raqqa, including territory along the Turkish border.

A senior Turkish official said the US plan for the Border Security Force was the reason that the US charge d‘affaires was summoned last week.’

The force will deploy along the border with Turkey to the north, the Iraqi border to the southeast, and down the Euphrates River Valley, which is now the frontline between the SDF and pro-Assad forces backed by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and other foreign militias.

The coalition said there will be an initial group of about 230 trainees: ”Efforts are taken to ensure individuals serve in areas close to their homes. Therefore, the ethnic composition of the force will be relative to the areas in which they serve.”

Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that Washington “is taking worrying steps to legitimise this organisation and make it lasting in the region”.

“It is absolutely not possible for this to be accepted,” he said, adding that Turkey “will continue its fight against any terrorist organisation regardless of its name and shape within and outside its borders”.

On Friday, in his latest challenge to Syria’s Kurdish factions, Erdoğan issued a one-week ultimatum for the YPG to withdraw from the Kurdish canton of Afrin in northwest Syria and from the city of Manbij in eastern Aleppo Province. If they remained, Erdoğan said, Turkish forces will overrun the areas to clear the “terrorists”.

Free Syrian Army Leaflet for Pro-Assad Troops to Surrender in Idlib

The Free Syrian Army has disseminated leaflets encouraging the surrender of pro-Assad troops in southeast Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

A pro-Assad offensive entered Idlib Province, almost of which has been held by the opposition since spring 2015, in recent weeks. However, a rebel counter-offensive last week pushed back the regime military and foreign allies from the vicinity of the Abu Duhur base, taking a series of villages.

See Syria Daily: Both Regime and Rebels Claim Success in NW Battles

Pro-opposition sites report ongoing Russian airstrikes on Monday on civilian sites, including five raids on a displaced persons’ camp in Ma’arshurin in southern Idlib Province. Injuries are reported among the displaced, some of whom recently fled pro-Assad shelling in eastern Hama Province.

Footage of pro-Assad troops retreating in the village of Khuwain: