Senior U.S. officials say Turkey and its allies are building up forces along the border with Syria, which could indicate a large-scale invasion is in the works. The Wall Street Journal writes , UNN reports .
Details
According to officials, there is an increasing number of uniformed militia and Turkish special forces fighters along the border with Syria, as well as large amounts of artillery, which is concentrated near Kobani, a Kurdish-majority city in Syria on the northern border with Turkey. According to one U.S. official, a cross-border operation by Turkey may be imminent.
The troop deployment, which began after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in early December, is similar to Turkey's military actions ahead of its 2019 invasion of northeastern Syria, the WSJ notes. “We are focused on that and insisting on restraint,” another U.S. official said.
Ilham Ahmed, a representative of the Syrian Kurdish civilian administration, told President-elect Donald Trump on Monday that a Turkish military operation seems likely and urged him to press Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to send troops across the border.
Turkey's goal is “to establish de facto control over our land before you take office, forcing you to interact with them as rulers of our territory,” Ahmed wrote in a letter to Trump, which was seen by The Wall Street Journal. “If Turkey continues its invasion, the consequences will be catastrophic.
The threat from Turkey has put the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which are hunting Islamic State militants alongside U.S. forces in northeastern Syria, in a vulnerable position weeks before the Biden administration leaves office. Last week, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Turkey to discuss the future of Syria with Erdogan and to get assurances that Ankara would wind down operations against Kurdish militants.
But US-brokered ceasefire talks between Syrian Kurds and Turkish-backed rebels in Kobane failed on Monday without reaching an agreement, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces said. According to the spokesperson, the SDF is observing a “significant military buildup” to the east and west of the city.
The overthrow of Syrian leader Assad by rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has left the country's future in a state of uncertainty and marked the beginning of renewed fighting between Syrian Kurds and rebel groups supported by Turkey.
The fall of Assad has led to the intensification of Turkish operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces, which Ankara considers a continuation of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party.
On Monday, Trump hinted that Turkey had organized the takeover of Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, telling reporters at his Florida residence that “Turkey has carried out a hostile takeover without losing many lives.”
Ahmed warned Trump that the Turkish invasion would lead to the displacement of more than 200,000 Kurdish civilians in Kobani alone, as well as many Christian communities.
During his first term, Trump partially withdrew U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, paving the way for a large-scale Turkish invasion that killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of Syrians. Ultimately, the Trump administration helped broker a ceasefire in exchange for the Kurds ceding kilometers of border territory to the Turks.