Fighting Between Turkiye-Backed Syrian Forces and Kurds Will Increase – Expert
/ Go to the mediabankFlag of the Kurdish YPG self-defense forces on the central street of the city of Afrin, Syria
The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has vowed to resist the advance of Turkiye and Ankara-backed Syrian militant groups in Kobani, as quoted by Reuters, after a Turkish defense official rejected a US-brokered ceasefire deal with the Kurds.”Fighting between Turkish groups and the Turkish army on one side and the Kurds on the other side will not subside. On the contrary, it will increase,” Sonia Mansour, Middle East observer and analyst, told Sputnik. Earlier, commander of the Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi proposed creating a demilitarized zone in the Syrian town of Kobani, located on the Turkish border, under US supervision. Abdi also admitted the presence of non-Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region, vowing that they would leave if the truce were to be established. Abdi had two goals, according to Mansour: First, “for the immediate term, decrease the military pressure on the SDF, which is stretched thin and under attack by Turkish-backed forces”Second, “to create a demilitarized zone in Kobani under US control is to keep US forces on the ground in Syria and extend their mission with a firm commitment and within an official framework ahead of [Donald] Trump’s inauguration” 
AnalysisSyrian Kurds: Between a Rock and a Hard Place17 December, 19:04 GMTShe noted that it was clear from the start that Ankara would not accept the Kurdish proposal. “Before the 2011 Syrian war, the Kurdish areas in Syria were three non-contiguous enclaves, Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north and al-Jazira in the northeast,” the pundit explained. “These enclaves became connected during the civil war in which Kurds fought against ISIS* and under US direction. Territorial continuity is important for Kurdish nationalistic aspirations. Turkiye has been working to reduce the Kurdish area of control expanded during the war in Syria and discontinue it again.” Turks consider the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara. Meanwhile, the US doesn’t seem interested in maintaining any demilitarized zone in Syria, given that the SDF’s role of depriving Bashar al-Assad’s Syria of its oil and gas reserves has de facto been accomplished, according to the pundit.
"I don’t think it is in the US interest to supervise a demilitarized zone, a term, which is an oxymoron in itself," Mansour highlighted. "Because the US presence will not make for a demilitarized zone, on the contrary, the zone will be militarized by the US, as the US is not a neutral party, and has been part of the Syrian civil war all along."
AnalysisIs Kurdish-Proposed Demilitarized Zone in Northern Syria Possible?18 December, 18:23 GMT*terrorist organization banned in Russia and other countries.
