Turkey moves to isolate the Kurds in Syria, and prepares a way for new attacks - analysis

Turkey is seeking to rapidly take advantage of the fall of the Assad regime to try to settle several scores in Syria and then assume a place of power in Damascus. Turkey has already played a major role in the Syrian civil war, invading various parts of northern Syria and using former Syrian rebel groups as proxies as part of what is called the Syrian National Army.

When the Idlib-based Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began its offensive against the Syrian regime in late November, Turkey chose to try to take advantage of the chaos. As HTS took cities from the collapsing Assad regime, Ankara unleashed the SNA to attack Kurdish groups. Ankara’s main goal over the last eight years in Syria has been to fight against what it claims are “terrorist” groups in Syria. These are not terrorist groups such as ISIS or al-Qaeda, but instead, what Ankara means is using proxy forces to target Kurdish areas of Syria. 

The main group in Ankara’s cross-hairs is the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF. The SDF was formed in 2015 with US backing. They include a group called the YPG, which is a Kurdish group that has been fighting ISIS. Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK. What matters here is that you have Turkey, a member of NATO, attacking the SDF, which is backed by the US, which is also a NATO member.   (Read More)