Assad forces mobilise to oppose Turks’ attack

Russian-brokered deal with Kurds enables forces to raise flag in cities for the first time in seven years

Bashar al-assad’s forces swept into cities across north-east Syria for the first time in seven years yesterday after the West’s former Kurdish allies agreed to a Russian-brokered deal to try to hold off a Turkish attack. Russia seized on Donald Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds to restore Assad’s rule, and Russian-backed Syrian forces clashed with Turkish-backed Syrian rebels outside Manbij, a key city on the Turkey-syria border where US forces are evacuating on the president’s orders.

BASHAR AL-ASSAD’S forces swept into cities across north-east Syria for the first time in seven years yesterday after the West’s former Kurdish allies agreed to a Russian-brokered deal to try to hold off a Turkish attack.

The Syrian regime’s black-and-red flag was hoisted across the region as Russia seized on Donald Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds to restore Assad’s rule over swathes of territory he has not controlled since 2012.

Assad’s troops clashed with Turkish-backed Syrian rebels outside Manbij, a key city on the Turkey-syria border where US forces are evacuating on the president’s orders.

Western officials are watching closely to see if the skirmishes escalate into a direct confrontation between Turkey and the Syrian regime.

It came as Mr Trump approved sanctions against senior members of Turkey’s government in response to their offensive and will keep “a small footprint” of US troops in the country, he said. The president said that steel tariffs would be increased to 50 per cent and negotiations over a $100billion (£80billion) trade deal would be put on hold.

“I have been perfectly clear with President Erdoğan: Turkey’s action is precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes,” he said. “Unfortunately, Turkey does not appear to be mitigating the humanitarian effects of its invasion.” Mr Trump effectively authorised the invasion on Oct 6 when he announced that US troops were being pulled out of the Turkey-syria border region.

Fears were also rising over an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) resurgence, as it emerged that US forces had failed to secure dozens of the most hardened jihadist fighters, and Isil prisoners who once again rioted against their Kurdish guards.

Mr Trump suggested the Kurds were deliberately freeing Isil prisoners to get the West’s attention, a point repeatedly used by Turkey’s government to discredit its Kurdish enemies.

He yesterday tweeted: “Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land,” adding flippantly that anyone who could help the Kurds “is good with me, whether it is Russia, China or Napoleon Bonaparte.”

Assad’s re-entry into north-eastern Syria marks a dramatic redrawing of the lines of control in the war-torn country and is likely to signal the beginning of the end of seven years of Kurdish autonomy in the area.

Regime fighters began entering the provinces of Hasakah and Raqqa and were moving quickly to consolidate their control over long areas of the Turkish-syrian border with the permission of Kurdish troops. The details of the agreement between Damascus and the Kurds remains unclear. Kurdish authorities insisted that they would maintain their political autonomy.

But other reports suggested that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Western-backed Kurdish units that led the fight against Isil, would be folded into Assad’s army and that north-east Syria would come back under direct rule from Damascus. The immediate focus of the newly aligned SDF and Assad regime is to repel Turkish-backed rebels from seizing control of Manbij.

The Syrian rebels, known as the National Army, said last night they had launched an operation to “liberate Manbij and its surroundings from the terrorist gangs”.

The battle for Manbij will pose a test for Turkey, which must decide whether to back its Syrian rebel allies with airstrikes at the risk of sparking a confrontation with Syria. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, said he was determined to put the city under the control of “our Arabic brothers” in the National Army.

US forces have been ordered to evacuate northern Syria but many troops remained caught up in the chaos. The situation in north-east Syria collapsed into disorder so quickly that US special forces did not have time to carry out a plan to seize around 60 of the top Isil fighters in Kurdish custody, according to The New York Times.

The report appeared to drastically undercut Mr Trump’s claim that “the US has the worst of the Isil prisoners”.

Mr Trump also said the “Kurds may be releasing some [Isil prisoners] to get us involved” in trying to stop Turkey’s offensive. SDF guards at a prison were wounded during a riot by Isil prisoners at Ain Issa, according to Kurdish media.

The Isil suspects are panicked at the prospect they could be handed over to the Assad regime, which has a history of torturing detainees.