ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Unless a common strategy is agreed between the major players involved in Syria, the situation could escalate into open conflict between the US, its NATO ally Turkey, and Russia, Munich Security Conference (MSC) chairman Wolfgang Ischinger told Rudaw. “I see a huge escalation risk. I see a risk of conflict between two NATO partners, Turkey and the United States. And I think that what we need is that Russia and the US and Turkey and others need to see eye to eye and start talking about a common strategy how to end the war in Syria,” said Ischinger, who has chaired the annul forum since 2008. “Without an agreement between the major players, this drama is going to go on and on and on,” said the German diplomat, adding “that’s not good enough and that’s why we’re here.” Relations between Turkey and the US recently hit their lowest ebb in their long military collaboration when Ankara accused Washington of continuing to sponsor the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it claims are aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a link denied by the YPG. The US says its support for the YPG, which makes up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), only extends to the fight against ISIS. Washington insists it does not sponsor groups seeking autonomy or succession from Syria. Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 with the stated aim of creating a buffer zone along its border, pushing back Kurdish forces in the northern Syrian canton of Afrin. Ankara has since threatened to send its forces east to take Manbij, a city liberated from ISIS by Kurdish-led forces, where a small US base is stationed. A Turkish advance on Manbij could possibly lead to a confrontation between Turkish and American forces. Meanwhile, an unconfirmed number of Russian contractors were allegedly killed in a battle with US-led coalition forces near Deir ez-Zour on February 7. Russian casualty figures vary from five to in excess of 300 killed or injured. Moscow denies any of its personnel were present. If the clash took place, it would be among the bloodiest confrontations between Russian and US forces since the end of the Cold War. Besides staving off an open conflict between the various factions involved in Syria, Ambassador Ischinger told Rudaw any solution in Syria and the wider region must be generational to stop the reemergence of ISIS and defeat jihadist groups. “If it really is possible to eradicate IS, that is a major step,” Ischinger told Rudaw at the MSC’s Bayerischer Hof venue on Saturday. “But we shouldn’t be kidding ourselves. The problem of jihadi groups in the region is not going to go away just because we have a military defeat of this particular group. So the fight is not going to be over. We need a sustained effort which will take us into a generation long effort to provide economic help, provide growth, to rebuild Iraq, Iraq needs lots of money, as does Syria once the war has ended and that is also part of the job that Europe needs to make a major contribution to.” Ischinger scolded the European Union for its response to the seven-year conflict in Syria, urging its members to play a much greater role in brokering peace. “The European Union is supposed to represent the interests of 500 million people. The European Union has been more affected by the drama by the war in Syria than another other region in the world,” he said. “But the European Union has been totally ineffective in creating peace, in ending the war, in being a player in the efforts to handle this crisis. The European Union has been absolute from the efforts to solve the problem. That’s not good enough.”
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