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Executive Summary for January 17th

We review the key events in Syria, including a Kurdish party appealing for help ahead of a potential Turkish offensive in the north, the opposition calling on the West to exert more pressure on Assad’s allies, and Eastern Ghouta rebels releasing civilian captives.

Published on Jan. 17, 2018 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Syria’s Kurds Appeal for International Support Ahead of Potential Turkish Onslaught

The leading Kurdish party in Syria called on the international community on Wednesday to shoulder responsibility for the security of a Kurdish enclave threatened by Turkey, the Associated Press reported.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) said that the world will bear responsibility for those living in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria should Turkey decide to attack, the AP said.

Turkey this week escalated its threats against Kurdish forces in Afrin, which it views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). It has accused Kurdish groups in Syria of trying to establish a “terror corridor” on its southern border.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that an offensive in Kurdish-held regions in northern Syria may begin soon.

“Tomorrow (or) the day after (or) within a short period, we will get rid of terror nests one-by-one in Syria starting with Afrin and Manbij” in northern Syria, he was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.

The president added that the operation in Afrin would be undertaken with the support of allied Syrian rebel fighters. “This struggle is being conducted for them. Not for us,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meanwhile, U.S. military officials have distanced themselves from Kurdish groups in Afrin, in an indication that Washington may not intervene to block or deter a potential Turkish attack, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

“We don’t consider them as part of our ‘Defeat ISIS’ operations, which is what we are doing there and we do not support them … We are not involved with them at all,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway told Anadolu Agency, referring to the PYD/YPG (People’s Protection Units) in Afrin.

U.S.-led coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said that the coalition was not operating in the area threatened by Turkey. “We are not operating in Afrin. We are supporting our partners in defeating remaining ISIS pockets along the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” Dillon was quoted as saying.

Syrian Opposition Calls on the West to Exert More Pressure on Government Allies

The Syrian opposition’s lead negotiator is calling on the U.S. and Europe to exert more pressure on the government’s allies, Russia and Iran, to return to peace talks to end the Syrian war, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

“It is time for President Trump, Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister May to say: ‘Stop,’” Nasr al-Hariri told Reuters in London on Monday. “It is time for Trump, Merkel and May to increase pressure and bring the international community together to get a genuine and just political situation in Syria.”

He said that the killing of civilians in Syria would continue unabated if President Bashar al-Assad and his allies were not pressured into seeking a peaceful settlement to the conflict.

Hariri also said on Monday that the U.S. is showing renewed interest in reaching a political solution to the war, the Telegraph reported.

“We felt that there is something new. They want to take the leadership, the initiative,” Hariri told a parliamentary briefing in London on Monday, according to the Telegraph.

Eastern Ghouta Rebels Release Two Dozen Captives

Syrian rebels in besieged Eastern Ghouta released 24 detainees as part of a deal mediated by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing Syrian state media.

The captives had been held by rebels for between eight months and three years, Reuters said, citing SANA news agency.

A U.N. official confirmed the release, explaining that they were mostly civilians who were kidnapped by rebels in the suburbs east of the capital.

It was not immediately clear what the rebels would receive in return, but last month a deal was reached between the rebels and the Syrian government to evacuate critical medical cases from the Eastern Ghouta suburbs in exchange for the release of detainees.

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