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Executive Summary for January 25th

We review the key developments in Syria, including Trump warning Erdogan against risking confrontation with U.S.-backed forces in Syria, U.N.-sponsored peace talks opening in Vienna and the SDF rejecting Turkey’s claim that it killed ISIS militants in Afrin.

Published on Jan. 25, 2018 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Washington Warns Turkey Against Confrontation With U.S.-Backed Forces

Washington on Wednesday warned Turkey against risking a confrontation in northern Syria after Ankara said it would extend its military operations to areas held by U.S.-backed forces, the Associated Press reported.

On Saturday Turkey launched a campaign against the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in Syria. The offensive so far has centered on the YPG stronghold of Afrin in northern Aleppo.

But Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Wednesday to expand “Operation Olive Branch” toward the Kurdish enclave of Manbij, some 60 miles (100km) east of Afrin. This would bring Turkish troops and allied forces closer to Washington-backed Kurdish fighters and U.S. forces who are based near Manbij, but not in or around Afrin.

This is not the first time Erdogan has said Turkey would attack Manbij, but escalated threats this week have led to concerns in Washington. In a phone call with his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday, President Donald Trump warned Ankara against any move that could lead to a confrontation between U.S. and Turkish forces, the AP said.

An unidentified senior U.S. official quoted by the AP said that Washington’s “number one concern is the safety and security of troops in the vicinity.”

Shervan Darwish, the head of the Kurdish-controlled Manbij military council, said that U.S. forces are present on the “front lines” in Manbij. “Their presence has been to ensure the stability in Manbij,” the AP quoted him as saying. “Their patrols are continuing and also air patrols. They are present with us on the front lines.”

Darwish also said that the Manbij military council has deployed to the front lines in preparation for a potential attack, according to Reuters. “We are in full readiness to respond to any attack (by Turkey and its allies),” he said.

Meanwhile, coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said that U.S. forces patrolling Manbij “have an inherent right to defend themselves and will do so if necessary,” Reuters said.

Vienna Peace Talks ‘Last Hope’ for Syria

Representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition are meeting in Vienna on Thursday for a fresh round of U.N.-backed negotiations over ending the Syrian conflict, Agence France-Presse reported.

The two days of talks in the Austrian capital come after the eight previous rounds of negotiations in Geneva failed to bring the rival parties together at the same table.

The U.N. envoy for Syria said on Wednesday that he was “optimistic” about this round of talks. “Definitely I am optimistic because it is the only way to be at such moments,” Staffan de Mistura said. “It is a very, very critical moment.”

Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday that there is currently “no prospect of a political solution” to the war, according to AFP. However, Le Drian noted that talks in Vienna were the “last hope” for a settlement.

The meeting in Vienna comes days before Moscow hosts its own two-day peace congress in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on January 29.

The Syrian opposition has said that Russia’s parallel diplomatic push serves to undermine U.N.-sponsored negotiations.

SDF: ISIS Is Not Present in Afrin

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday said that Turkish attacks on Afrin could not have killed so-called Islamic State militants, Reuters reported.

This comes after Turkey alleged that it has killed at least 260 Kurdish fighters and ISIS militants since it first launched an attack on YPG forces in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin on Saturday.

“The whole world knows Daesh (Islamic State) is not present in Afrin,” Redur Xelil, a senior SDF official, told Reuters.

Xelil also said that Turkey had exaggerated the number of Kurdish fighters killed since the start of the operation, but declined to clarify how many have been killed.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that at least 42 Kurdish fighters have been killed since Saturday.

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