President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on May 23 a new military operation in northern Syria to establish a 30-kilometer-wide zone of Turkish occupation. Erdogan terms the proposed action as a counterterrorism operation, with details to be announced in the next National Security Council meeting. Turkey views the US-sponsored Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) and their allied militia, Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), as brother-in-arms with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The US sponsorship and support of the SDF and YPG has angered Turkey for years and has created tension between Washington and Ankara who were at one time seen as close allies, and both are members of NATO.
Turkey has for years targeted Kurdish militias in Syria and northern Iraq. The US is also occupying parts of northeast Syria, which they characterize as anti-ISIS operations, but in reality, are anti-Turkish and anti-Syrian operations in support of the US-sponsored Kurdish militias.
Ankara has conducted three military incursions into northern Syria since 2016, seizing hundreds of kilometers of land and pushing some 30 deep into the country. During the US-NATO attack on Syria beginning in March 2011, Turkey along with the US, UK, France, Germany, and the oil-rich monarchies of the Gulf supported and financed the Radical Islamic terrorists used as foot-soldiers in Syria during the Obama administration.
The conflict in Syria has died out since 2019 into the current stalemate with only Idlib under Al Qaeda control and protected by Turkish military outposts.
The US warns Turkey
Ned Price, the US State Department spokesperson, came out strongly against Erdogan's proposed new military operation on May 24, saying any new offensive in northern Syria would undermine regional stability and put US troops at risk.
"We are deeply concerned about reports and discussions of potential increased military activity in northern Syria, and in particular, its impact on the civilian population there," Price said, and added, "We condemn any escalation. We support the maintenance of the current ceasefire lines."
The Biden administration wants to maintain the stalemate in Syria, which prevents the Syrian population from recovering or rebuilding after 11 years of armed conflict. The US policy is to keep Syria and Lebanon in chaos to weaken their resistance to the Israeli occupation.
The Syrian government's response
On May 25, the foreign ministry of Syria stated that it would consider any Turkish military incursions into its territory as "war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Damascus sees the incursions as a violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and sent a letter to the United Nations secretary-general and the Security Council, describing Turkey's actions as illegitimate.
Before the 2011 conflict began, Syria and Turkey were close allies and had a free-trade and visa-free travel policy between the two neighbors which share a huge border. Turkey signed on to a US-NATO-directed attack for regime change which failed. During the conflict, Turkey hosted terrorists from around the world as a transit hub for terrorists arriving on their way by land into Syria from the Turkish border. The international terrorists were from the US, Western Europe, and Australia as well as from Arab nations. Most were followers of Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Syria is in economic collapse, as US-EU sanctions have destroyed the economy, and have thrown the population into poverty, but the sanctions have not affected the Syrian government, causing economists to question the role of US Congressional approved sanctions.
Who are the PKK, SDF, and YPG?
The US and NATO view the PKK as a terrorist group but support the SDF and YPG. This has caused friction between the US and EU with Turkey.
The PKK has killed thousands of people in Turkey over decades of terrorism. The PKK is a communist armed terrorist group that is aligned with the US-sponsored SDF and YPG.
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