PRO-ASSAD MILITIAS SET TO ENTER AFRIN
beirut — Militias allied to the Syrian government will enter the Afrin region, Syrian media reported on Monday, after a Kurdish official said a deal had been struck with the Syrian army to help Kurdish forces end a Turkish offensive.
Turkey said it would welcome any move by Damascus into Afrin to get rid of the YPG Kurdish militia, but if Syrian troops were entering to protect the Kurdish fighters, then the Turkish assault would go on.
A second Syrian Kurdish official said no pro-government military forces were arriving in Afrin on Monday. While the deal was supposed to have been announced formally on Monday, the source said, external pressure might prevent it going ahead.
Turkey began its operation last month with allied Syrian rebel groups to drive out the YPG, which Ankara regards as a terrorist group linked to an insurgency at home and sees as a security threat to its border.
That offensive further complicated the web of rivalries and alliances in northern Syria among Kurdish forces, the Syrian government, rebel factions, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Russia.
But on Sunday, a senior Syrian Kurdish official said Kurdish forces and the Syrian government had reached a deal for the Syrian army to enter Afrin, and that it could be implemented within two days.
All deals between the Syrian government and the Kurds, which each hold more territory than any other side in Syria, are closely watched because they could prove pivotal for the future course of the war.
If it (Syrian army) comes in to defend the YPG, then nothing and nobody can stop us or Turkish soldiers Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister
beirut — Syrian Kurdish forces and the Damascus government have reached an agreement for the Syrian army to enter the Afrin region to help repel a Turkish offensive, a senior Kurdish official said on Sunday.
Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, told Reuters army troops would deploy along some border positions and could enter the region within the next two days.
The deal underscores the increasingly tangled battlefield in northern Syria, driven by a web of rivalries and alliances among Kurdish forces, the Syrian government, rebel factions, Turkey, the United States and Russia.
The complex relationship between the Damascus government and Syrian Kurdish forces, which each holds more territory than any other side in the war, will be pivotal in how the conflict unfolds.
Ankara launched an air and ground offensive on Afrin last month targeting the Kurdish YPG militia, which it views as a terrorist group with links to an armed insurrection in Turkey.
Turkey’s Nato ally the United States has armed the YPG as part of an alliance it backs in Syria
We don’t know to what extent these understandings (deal) will last because there are sides that are not satisfied and want to make (them) fail.
Badran Jia Kurd, A senior Kurdish official
against Daesh. But while Washington has a military presence in the much larger swathes of Syria that the YPG and its allies control further east, it has not given support to the YPG in Afrin.
“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.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military.
When asked about the reported deal, YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud repeated an earlier statement that said the Syrian army had yet to respond to their calls to help protect Afrin.
Although Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government and the YPG have mostly avoided direct conflict, they have occasionally clashed and they espouse utterly different visions for Syria’s future. Jia Kurd said the agreement with Damascus on Afrin was purely military and included no wider political arrangements.
“When it comes to the political and administrative matters in the region, it will be agreed upon with Damascus in the later stages through direct negotiations and discussions,” he said. —