Turkey attacks U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria’s north

With airstrikes and artillery fire, Turkey on Saturday defied U.S. appeals and opened a long-anticipated offensive on Afrin, an enclave in Syria for Kurdish militias backed by the United States.

Turkish officials have framed the offensive as part of a wider battle against Kurdish separatists, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, in Turkey’s southwest. Turkey also fears any gains in strength by the Syrian Kurds, whose territory runs along some of Turkey’s southern border.

But the United States has opted to back the Syrian Kurds as proxy fighters against Islamic State and as a buffer to keep the militants from trying to reclaim territory.

The military action raised concerns that it could spark conflicts among the assortment of foreign military powers present, in proximity, across northern Syria. They include Turkey, Russia and the United States. All have ISIL as a common foe, but, individually, they back different factions among the various armed groups in Syria.

The latest flash point also highlighted the shifting disputes and conflicting agendas that have complicated efforts toward ending nearly seven years of conflict in Syria. The Turkish military action came amid intensifying violence in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, where Syrian government forces are on the offensive against al-Qaida-aligned rebels in the east of the province.

Recent statements by U.S. military officials about plans to train border security forces that would protect a Kurdish enclave in Syria also provoked Turkey’s ire.

“We are taking these steps to ensure our own national security,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments carried by the semi-official Anadolu agency.

Yet Turkish incursions could carry risks. The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad had warned that it was prepared to fire on Turkish warplanes in the event of an attack on Afrin.

A Syrian government offensive is causing one of the worst surges in population displacement since Syria’s civil war began. More than 212,000 people have fled fighting around Idlib in the past month, according to the United Nations.

On Saturday, hours after the announcement of the airstrikes, Turkey said it had struck more than 100 positions belonging to Kurdish fighters. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.