Under Fire From Turkey, Kurdish Enclave Calls on Syrian Army for Help

Kurdish forces fighting against Turkey in Syria’s Afrin district called for Damascus to send troops to the area to help defend them against a six-day-old onslaught, Reuters reported.

This comes nearly a week after Turkey launched a campaign in Afrin against the United States-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in Syria.

“We call on the Syrian state to carry out its sovereign obligations towards Afrin and protect its borders with Turkey from attacks of the Turkish occupier … and deploy its Syrian armed forces to secure the borders of the Afrin area,” said a statement posted on Thursday on the website of the autonomous authority governing Afrin, according to Reuters.

Ankara’s six-day campaign has achieved few gains as Turkish troops and allied forces fight to secure footholds on the western, eastern and northern flanks of the YPG stronghold.

According to the United-Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights at least 47 Kurdish fighters, 52 Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and four Turkish troops have been killed since the start of the offensive. Ankara, however, claims that only three Turkish soldiers and 11 fighters from Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army factions have been killed since Saturday, according to Reuters.

Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria has led to heightened tensions with Washington – a NATO ally and the main backer of Syria’s Kurds. Tom Bossert, President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser, said on Thursday the U.S. would prefer Turkish troops to “remove themselves” from the conflict in Afrin, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. has previously called on Turkey to exercise restraint in its operations in northern Syria but Bossert’s comments were the “most direct call yet for Turkey to withdraw,” the AP added.

Meanwhile, Ankara called on the U.S. to cease all support for the YPG militia in Syria or risk a confrontation between U.S. and Turkish forces in the country, according to Reuters. The remarks on Thursday by deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag are “some of Ankara’s strongest comments yet about a potential clash with its NATO ally,” Reuters said.

“Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle,” Bozdag was quoted as saying.

Israel: Iran Commands 80,000-Strong Syria Force

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that 82,000 fighters in Syria are under Iranian authority, the Associated Press reported.

Danny Danon said those include 60,000 Syrians, 9,000 members of Hezbollah, 3,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guard members and 10,000 Shiite fighters recruited from across the Middle East, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The AP said it could not independently verify the figures.

The ambassador also accused Iran of trying to turn Syria into “the largest military base in the world” to threaten Israel and “terrorize the entire free world,” the AP reported.

Kurds Say They Will Snub Russia’s Peace Congress

A senior Kurdish official said that Syria’s main Kurdish groups will not attend a Russian-sponsored peace congress in Sochi next week while Turkish attacks on Afrin continue, Reuters reported.

Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led autonomous administration that runs parts of northern Syria, also said on Thursday that Kurdish groups have yet to receive a formal invitation to the Sochi congress which Russia confirmed would take place on Jan. 29, Reuters said.

“Regarding our position on an invitation – if it happens – we will not attend the congress in the light of this barbaric occupation aggression on Afrin,” Jia Kurd said. “How can there be discussion of the solution at a time when stable, secure areas are pushed towards anarchy and battles?”

The Sochi congress was supposed to be the first time that Syria’s main Kurdish groups would participate in peace talks.

Recommended Reads

• Associated Press: More Than a Year Later, Syria’s Aleppo Still Wrecked by War
• Agence France-Presse: Echoes of History as Kurds Feel Let Down by West
• Foreign Policy: Welcome to Syria 2.0
• The New York Times: Allies or Terrorists: Who Are the Kurdish Fighters in Syria?
• The Los Angeles Times: Rex Tillerson’s Magical Thinking on Syria