ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Hours after US President Donald Trump announced the imminent and complete withdrawal of US forces from northeast Syria, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Kurdish fighters east of the Euphrates “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes”.
“Now we have Manbij and the east of the Euphrates in front of us. We are working intensively on this subject,” Akar said, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Erdogan warned on Wednesday last week he would deploy troops east of the Euphrates to fight the YPG – Kurdish fighters that make up the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey considers the YPG an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU.
Ankara launched a similar offensive against the YPG in the northwest Syrian canton of Afrin at the start of 2018.
Now that Trump has declared ISIS defeated in Syria and has ordered the withdrawal of US troops, Manbij and SDF held territory in northeast Syria may be left vulnerable to a Turkish offensive.
Speaking in Qatar, Akar echoed earlier rhetoric from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the defensive trenches dug by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) near the Turkish border will become their graves when Ankara launches a fresh offensive on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River.
“Now we have Manbij and the east of the Euphrates in front of us. We are working intensively on this subject,” Akar said, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Erdogan warned on Wednesday last week he would deploy troops east of the Euphrates to fight the YPG – Kurdish fighters that make up the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Turkey considers the YPG an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU.
Ankara launched a similar offensive against the YPG in the northwest Syrian canton of Afrin at the start of 2018.
A major disincentive for Ankara deploying troops and its Syrian proxies east of the river was the presence of US military personnel supporting the SDF’s operation against ISIS. Roughly 2,000 American special forces, together with an unknown number of French and British troops, were stationed in Manbij, which was liberated from ISIS by the SDF in 2016.
Now that Trump has declared ISIS defeated in Syria and has ordered the withdrawal of US troops, Manbij and SDF held territory in northeast Syria may be left vulnerable to a Turkish offensive.
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