Turkey attacks the Kurds in Syria (Part 1: US parts with NATO ally Turkey?)

Turkey recently launched attacks into Syria. Specifically, those attacks were in Afrin, which is controlled by Kurds. The YPG (People's Protection Units) are the Kurdish forces in that area. Turkey has issues with the YPG as they believe them to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK is responsible for the Kurdish independence movement in Turkey.


With that, Turkey started military action in the Kurdish held territory around the city of Afrin.

So what is some of the recent history.

On Jan 13th, ABC News reported:

Speaking in the eastern province of Elazig, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the People's Protection Units, or YPG, that Turkey will intervene if the "terrorists in Afrin do not surrender."

The Kurds have formed alliances with the US and Russia. They also hold 25% of Syrian territory. Much of the Turkish border with Syria is under Kurdish influence. This obviously doesn't provide any comfort to Turkey as they hold the belief that the YPG supports the PKK. Now though the Kurds control territory along the Turkish border, they don't control the full border. Afrin is isolated, surrounded by Turkey and Syrian Rebels who are supported by Turkey.

Another ABC News quote states:

A Syrian opposition news site, Baladi News, quoted a rebel commander on Thursday as saying that joint Turkish military and Syrian rebel operations to attack Afrin could begin "at any moment." . . . The YPG is reporting artillery strikes to Russian military observer units stationed in Afrin, he added.

One quote I didn't pull was that Turkish troops are already in Syria -- in the territory held by the Syrian rebels. The Kurds are obviously using their Russian ties as they're reporting artillery strikes to the Russian.

On January 15th, the BBC wrote about an additional issue that makes Turkey uneasy.

Key powers involved in Syria's civil war have criticised US plans to help an allied Kurdish-led militia set up a 30,000-strong "border security force".

In a previous blog post on Syria and the Kurds I mentioned that President Trump had told Turkey that the US would stop arming the YPG once ISIS was defeated in the Deir al-Zor province (which is along the Euphrates River). Setting up a permanent 30,000 strong force would seem to back away from that commitment. Now the reasoning for the force is to continue to fight ISIS and make sure they don't return, but one could see this as shifting positions that would continue to allow the US to arm the Kurds.

Now Syria isn't happy about this move by the US either. As quoted by the BBC:

The source warned that Damascus considered any Syrian fighting for militias sponsored by the US to be "a traitor to their people and nation".

Also, Russia isn't happy about this as they see it as a "path towards the partition of Syria."

Why would the US back away from a promise they gave Turkey? My bet is that this isn't an issue with Syria or Russia. I suspect this has more to do with Iran. As mentioned in my previous blog, Iran-backed militia was helping Syria fight ISIS. Helping build a 30,000 strong force allows us to have some military say in Syria and counters Iranian influence in the country. We're essentially doing this on behalf of Israel and Saudi Arabia.