Turkish attack on Syria will undermine ISIS fight, cause mass displacement: KRG

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s planned offensive against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria risks undermining the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and creating a new humanitarian crisis, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) warned Tuesday. 

The KRG is “deeply concerned by the United States’ decision to withdraw from the safe zone in northeastern Syria and by reports of a potential unilateral military operation by Turkey,” it said in a statement.   

“The government calls on Turkey, as a member of the Global Coalition, to avoid any initiative that would undermine the progress made against ISIS, including jeopardizing the secure detention of terrorist fighters,” it added. 

Following a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, the White House said it had greenlighted a Turkish incursion into northern Syria.  

The US then withdrew 50 military personnel from Sare Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal al-Abyad) near the Syria-Turkey border. 

The decision provoked international outrage and accusations of betrayal. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – America’s ally in the ground war against ISIS – called the move “a stab in the back”.

“The consequences of military escalation have implications far beyond Syria’s borders, creating the conditions for a return of ISIS and a mass displacement of people,” the KRG statement said. 

“It is crucial therefore that all parties in the conflict, including the Kurdish parties, engage in dialogue to de-escalate the situation. The government has consistently stated that the crisis must be solved through a stable political solution which enshrines the rights of all Syrians, including the Kurdish people,” it added.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), which shares a strategic border with the Kurdish-majority region of northern Syria known as Rojava, already hosts roughly 225,000 Syrian Kurds fleeing the civil war, poverty, conscription, and Turkish threats. A new offensive could send thousands more civilians over the border. 

A spokesman for the French humanitarian aid organization ACTED told Rudaw on Tuesday that NGOs operating in the KRI are not prepared for a fresh wave of Syrian refugees. 

“There is capacity … however planning has only been done for the potential of up to 30,000 Iraqis returning from Al-Hol camp and has nothing to do with any new wave of Syrian Kurdish refugees,” he said.

“It should be stressed that the humanitarian community including ACTED have done a lot in the care, maintenance and planning to improve the standard of living, but there has been very little to no funding available anymore for humanitarian crisis in KRI since the notion has moved to more longer-term, durable solutions,” he added.

KRG officials have called on Russia, the most powerful actor in Syria, to intervene in support of the Kurds. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – who was in Erbil on Monday – said he would mediate. 

Iran meanwhile has said an invasion would not address Turkey’s security concerns and would cost lives and money.

Turkey considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the SDF – as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting the Turkish state for greater political and cultural rights for Kurds.