Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (L) with US Syria envoy James Jeffrey, Ankara, July 22, 2019 (Daily Sabah)
Criticizing the US for failure to agree a “safe zone”, Turkish officials are warning of an offensive against Kurdish militias in northeast Syria.
The Government highlighted Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar’s meeting with his military officials on Thursday, a day after Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Ankara has “no patience left” with Washington.
The US Special Envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey, and officials including Çavuşoğlu held talks in Ankara this week on the zone, proposed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in January.
See Syria Daily, January 16: Erdoğan — We Will Set Up “Safe Zone” in Kurdish Areas
However, the two sides differed over the depth of the zone in the Kurdish cantons of Kobani and Cezire along the Turkish border. Ankara wants a 40-km (25-mile) belt while the US is supporting only 10 km (6 miles). Turkey is also demanding the complete departure of the Kurdish militia YPG from the area, and full control by Ankara’s forces.
Turkey considers the YPG, the leading faction in the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces, as part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK, which has fought Ankara’s security forces for almost 40 years.
Çavuşoğlu chided the US, also citing disagreement over arrangements for YPG withdrawal from the city of Manbij in eastern Aleppo Province.
We got the impression that they want to enter a stalling process here as in Manbij. We need to reach an agreement regarding the safe zone as soon as possible because we have no patience left.
The Foreign Minister said a meeting of US military officials with a YPG leader on Monday, as Jeffrey was at the Foreign Ministry, showed the Americans were insincere.
“We Will Do What is Necessary”
The US Embassy maintained Jeffrey’s talks were “forthright, positive, and productive”:
There was an overall discussion on Syria and specifically for the northeast, both sides committed to accelerated and concrete progress on the Manbij roadmap, and discussed detailed proposals to enhance Turkey’s security along the Turkish border in northeast Syria.
But Çavuşoğlu reinforced the warning by noting that Ankara planned last December to launch cross-border operations, suspending them when Donald Trump said all US troops would be withdrawn from Syria.
We had a military operation (on the agenda) before, but we halted it over Trump’s request. Otherwise, we will do what is necessary ourselves and we are determined.
Committed to support of the SDF and to a position to check Iran’s presence propping up the Assad regime, the Pentagon chipped away at Trump’s impulsive order. No US troops have been withdrawn, and the ongoing deployment of an American force — both alongside the Kurdish-led SDF and at a base in Tanf near the Iraq and Jordan borders — has been confirmed.
Quoting Defense Minister Akar, his Minisry said, “We emphasized to [the Americans] once again that we have no tolerance for any delays, and that we will use our initiative if necessary.”
Pentagon spokesman Commander Sean Robertson pushed back:
We have made clear that unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as U.S. personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern.
We would find any such actions unacceptable.
I guess erdydog is looking for a diversion since he cant do anything about Idlib.
US-led coalition carries out patrols in Syria amid Turkish invasion threats
The US-led coalition to fight the Islamic State is carrying out patrols along the Syrian border between Tal Abyad and Serekaniye amid Turkish threats to invade over its southern border into areas east of the Euphrates River. Col. James Scott Rawlinson, Director of Public Affairs and Spokesperson for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), told Kurdistan 24, “Coalition forces routinely enable partner force patrols throughout northeast Syria.” The goal of these patrols is to “better mitigate Daesh [Islamic State] threats to local residents, provide better security for the region and serve as part of CJTF-OIR’s commitment to stability in the area.” According to Nicholas A. Heras, a Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, the new coalition patrols “are designed to deter Turkey from crossing into Syria.”
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/aeb90f5d-6b2b-4d34-95f5-2ad9f6ffcd04 7/25/2019
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YBŞ and Iraqi army launch joint operation against ISIS
Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) and the Iraqi army and police have launched a joint operation against ISIS in some areas of Shengal. According to reports, the operation involves the village of Neêniyê and Golate. More details about the joint campaign were not immediately available. ISIS gangs launched a wave of genocidal attacks against Shengal on 3 August 2014, slaughtering a great number of civilians and kidnapping as many as 5 thousand Yazidi girls, women and boys. HPG guerrillas and YPG/YPJ fighters that rushed to Shengal rescued tens of thousands.
https://anfenglish.com/news/ybS-and-iraqi-army-launch-joint-operation-against-isis-36501 7/25/2019
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As tensions in the Persian Gulf ratchet up […] Nicholas Heras, who just returned from northeast Syria, where he was attending the International Forum on ISIS […] mentioned “elements within the SDF, particularly fighters from Deir ez-Zor who are tied to Saudi Arabia, that would like to take this opportunity to displace Assad and Iranian-backed forces” from the west side of the Euphrates. “The pool of fighters…for such an operation is still small. One dynamic that we should watch moving into the future is whether the Saudis and Emiratis, under their own line of effort, will try to recruit, mobilize, and pay for a Deir ez-Zor based armed group.”
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/us-maximum-pressure-iran-unsettles-syrias-kurds-69107 7/25/2019
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The commander of Deir Ez-Zor Military Council, Ahmad Al-Khabeel, (Abu Khawla), has unveiled the demographic changes by “#Shiite_militias”, considering that it’s his legal right to attack these forces. #Deir_Ez_Zor #Syria #Iran #NPA
bit.ly/2YhyzYD https://t.co/lKLZhZ9Hmv
https://twitter.com/NPA_SY/status/1152894322397855744 7/21/2019