Syria sees Turkey as an occupying power in its northern part, and the Syrian Foreign Ministry said last month that it would consider any new Turkish invasion as a “war crime and a crime against humanity.”
The Syrian Democratic Forces The US-backed SDF will coordinate with Damascus’ Syrian armed forces to repel any Turkish invasion of northern Syria, the SDF commander told Reuters today, stressing that Damascus must use its air defense systems against Turkish planes.
Ankara has threatened a new offensive in SDF-controlled areas of northern Syria, a Kurdish-led alliance led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
New threats have highlighted the complexity of alliances and relations in northern Syria: while Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization, Syrian Kurdish forces are backed by Washington and have also coordinated with the Syrian government and ally Russia.
SDF leader Mazlum Abdi said today that his forces were “open” to working with the Syrian army to fight Turkey, but said there was no need to send more troops.
«The main thing the Syrian army could do to defend Syrian territory would be to use air defense systems against Turkish planes.He said in a telephone interview from an unknown location in northern Syria.
Syria sees Turkey as an occupying power in its northern part, and the Syrian Foreign Ministry said last month that it would consider any new Turkish invasion as a “war crime and a crime against humanity.”
Turkey has backed rebel groups in clashes against forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the SDF. It has used warplanes and increasingly drones to target SDF-held territory, where Syrian Kurdish authorities have established a system of government separate from Damascus.
Abdi said more military co-ordination with Damascus would not threaten this semi-autonomous government.
«Our priority is to defend the Syrian territory and no one should think of taking advantage of this situation to achieve profits in the field.“, he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to seize the SDF-controlled cities of Tal Rifaat and Manzib in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, most of which are controlled by Syrian regime forces.
Turkish invasions in recent years have driven SDFs out of the northwestern enclave of Afrin and a number of border towns further east.
Abdi stressed that a new attack would displace about a million people and lead to “wider” battle zones, but did not say whether the SDF would respond with attacks on Turkish soil.
He warned that it could also lead to a revival of Islamic State (IS), whose jihadists the SDF expelled from parts of the country in northern and eastern Syria with US air support.
SDF fighters guard camps and prisons where Islamic State fighters and IK-linked families are being held, and the re-deployment of these guards to fight Turkey could leave security gaps.
«We can not fight on two frontsSaid the SDF commander.
He expressed hope that an impending meeting between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers could lead to de-escalation, but stressed that any negotiated settlement must include an end to Turkish drone strikes in northern Syria.
«That would be one of our main demands“, concluded.
