The article will focus on the region circled in red (NW). Yellow – Kurd | Green — Opposition/Turkey | Red — Regime | Black — Daesh/ISIS
Friday, Nov. 24, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made an announcement to the press that Washington had promised to no longer arm the mainly Kurdish SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces aka YPG/YPJ) in Syria against ISIS/Daesh. On the same day, the White House and the US Embassy in Turkey released the Readout of Donald Trump’s Call with President Erdogan of Turkey.
That Saturday, Rudaw interviewed a Turkish government aide about US ceasing supplying weapons to the YPG who went on to say that the US should go as far as to retrieve all weapons supplied to the Kurds. FM Cavusoglu’s announcement regarding Trump’s so-called promise to cease the supply of arms to the YPG were met with a rather tepid response from the White House in the form of the readout stating:
Consistent with our previous policy, President Trump also informed President Erdogan of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, now that the battle of Raqqa is complete and we are progressing into a stabilization phase to ensure that ISIS cannot return.
As per the readout, the two discussed the peace process in Syria within the parameters of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 which includes: Syrian-led, UN-observed free elections; the upholding human rights the right of return to the millions of displaced Syrian civilians; and talks that will ensure the voices of all major groups are heard whether they are government or opposition aligned.
Section of convoy in question.
Contrary to Turkey’s perception that Trump had promised to stop arming the Kurds, a video surfaced online that was said to be of a convoy filled with weapons from the US to the Kurds in the dead of night. It later turned out, in another video the next day, that the convoy was moving Humvees. The vehicles are American made, but a lack of attention to the issue by the US has caused confusion as to whether the armored vehicles were a recent shipment to the Kurds or not.
Arab News reports Kurdish official Abdel Karim Amr as saying in an interview, “Obviously, there will be an adjustment in the delivery of arms to the SDF after the elimination of IS (Daesh), but there is no charge in US policy regarding coordination [with the alliance].” Other reports have suggested the convoy was moving equipment out of Raqqa, the city the YPG recently helped liberate from Daesh.
Although still no one from the Coalition has made it clear whether the US is arming the YPG — not Brett McGurk, not Donald Trump — Kurds have recently displayed their abundance of US-supplied arms and armored vehicles in another convoy headed into Afrin.
Why is it Important That the US is Clear on Their Stance?
It is important because that convoy that was headed to Afrin was a response to Turkish forces, who almost two months ago posted up on the province’s southern border. All of Daesh’s major enclaves in Syria have been liberated, with much thanks owed to the US alliance with the Kurds, who are now looking to rebuild as well as defend their liberated region from the Turkish and Turkish-backed forces of Operation Euphrates Shield (OES). Their presence in Idlib is the result of a Russian model for de-escalation and is a continuation of OES’s operations in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria (although only a handful of officials are involved in the Aleppo project).
Oct. 7 Turkey started removing the wall at its border with Idlib. Tw: @HassounMazen
Launched on Oct. 12, the mission in Idlib is an effort to quell Islamist fighting against other opposition groups and Assad’s forces (SAA). However, with their concerns farther north, it seems that Turkey has left the project of de-escalation up to the dominant group in the area, the former al-Qaeda-linked group, Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Turkey’s cooperation with the group has not completely stopped active hostilities between HTS and the SAA, for example, on Dec. 3, SAA captured two Idlib towns, Zabawi and Al-Zafiriyah. But through negotiations between Turkey, Russia, and the opposition, a mutual understanding has taken place in the form of the “Salvation Government,” a civilian-led operation that acts as a moderating factor, keeping the opposition in Idlib focused on community rehabilitation, totally opposed to any reincarnation of the current regime. Many are worried about a group formerly attached to al-Qaeda running the show in Idlib, and this skepticism is certainly understandable.
Turkey’s official mission was not supposed to be a combat mission by any means; it is supposed to be a observation and facilitation mission to — just as in northern Aleppo — help rebuild Syrian society. However, from the outset the majority of OES in Idlib has focused their attention on the border of Kurdish-held Afrin since the Salvation Government seemed to be working as well as anyone would expect.
“If Turkey is threatened from Afrin or any other area, we will enter that area without any hesitation and rid of its terrorists.” ~FM Cavusoglu
In OES’s interim period, organizations in the northern territory like the Aleppo Governorate Council and their affiliate Stabilization Committee had been doing damage control, repairing infrastructure, baking bread, getting towns up and running, and sending children off to school. OES’s northern territory separates the rest of the Kurdish Rojava region from its enclave in Afrin. Erdogan has made it very clear that one of Turkey’s main goals in its operation in Syria are to destabilize what it deems to be a “terror corridor” along its border in collusion with the Turkey-based Kurdish terror group, the PKK.
Turkey is a NATO ally and a member of the Global Coalition Against Daesh. From President Erdogan’s perspective, the ambiguity in arming the Kurds may look very suspicious, perhaps even playing further in the Turkish president’s belief that the US was somehow involved in the failed military coup in July 2016. Only yesterday did the Turkish pro-government paper The Daily Sabah publish an article touting the US’s credibility, specifically calling out the US support of the PKK-affiliated Kurds. It would be wise for the US to be blunt with Turkey and make our relationship and our goals apparent as Erdogan becomes more and more impatient.
