ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Wednesday that he may order a fresh military operation against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria if they do not withdraw from along the Syria-Turkey border. This comes as Turkey and its Syrian proxies renew fighting with the forces in Rojava.
“We see the presence of the terrorist organization in areas along our border that do not fall under our control, and its threat to our country is still growing despite all the promises we have given,” Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a meeting at parliament, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
“Again, I repeat that if the promises are not fulfilled, we have legitimate cause to act whenever we need to eliminate all terrorists from the areas we have identified.”
Turkey launched the code-named Operation Peace Spring against the US-backed SDF in northern Syria in October 2019, taking control of the towns of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad). While off-and-on fighting continues, Turkey and its proxies have not made further advances after agreeing to deals with both Russia and the USA.
As per the deals, the SDF must abandon areas bordering Turkey, allowing for joint Russia-Turkey patrols. The SDF has claimed that their forces no longer exist on bordering areas - something confirmed by Russians. The Kurdish-led forces say that only the SDF’s administrative wing, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) remains in areas like Kobane on the Turkish border, alongside “local” forces.
However, Turkey is seemingly not convinced and has made several threats to launch a new military operation.
The SDF has allowed regime forces to be deployed to areas bordering Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies.
Areas like Ain Issa, on the border of Gire Spi, have been frequently bombarded by Turkey and its Syrian proxies in this month, causing panic among residents.
Fearing another Turkish offensive, hundreds of families in Ain Issa reportedly leave their houses at night, sleeping in deserted areas they believe are safer from Turkish bombardments.
“We use mattresses and blankets as beds. We used to keep them at our house but now we are keeping them in the vehicle and sleeping in deserted areas. We come back the next day. We do not take our belongings out of the truck. This is how we live,” said local resident Fadhil Ahmed told Rudaw last week.
Turkey has carried out three military operations against the SDF and its backbone, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in northeast Syria (Rojava). Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which is an armed group that has fought the Turkish state for decades for increased rights for Kurds in the country. Turkey has listed both the PKK and the YPG as terrorist organizations.
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