Trump greenlights Turkish operation in northeast Syria

Fazel Hawramy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey will soon go ahead with its long-threatened operation in northeast Syria against the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the White House said late Sunday following a phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart. 

US forces stationed in the region, long seen by the Syrian Kurds as the guarantors against a Turkish invasion, are to be withdrawn, the statement suggests.

“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria,” the office of the White House Press Secretary said in a statement.

“The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS (Islamic State) territorial “Caliphate,” will no longer be in the immediate area.

Rudaw’s reporter in northeast Syria said on Monday that US forces withdrew overnight from Geri Spei and Sari Kani, two towns on Syria’s border with Turkey. 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, had renewed his threat on Saturday to invade the Kurdish-controlled region east of the Euphrates River. 

“We have given all kinds of warning regarding the east of the Euphrates to the relevant parties. We have acted with enough patience,” Erdogan said. 

Turkey took control of north Syria’s Azaz, al-Bab, and Jarablus areas during Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016 and seized the Kurdish-majority enclave of Afrin in Operation Olive Branch in 2018. It has also established outposts in jihadist-held Idlib. 

Ankara has been in the talks with the US for several months about the establishment of a ‘safe zone’ along the Turkey-Syria border, from which Kurdish forces would be withdrawn and Syrian refugees sheltered in Turkey would be resettled. 

The White House accused European states, including France and Germany, of not doing enough to deal with the situation in northeast Syria, where thousands of local and foreign ISIS fighters and their families are held in camps guarded by the SDF. 

When Trump announced in December 2018 he intended to immediately withdraw US forces stationed in northern Syria, his then-defense secretary Jim Mattis and then-envoy for the coalition to defeat ISIS Brett McGurk both resigned in protest, warning America would lose prestige if it abandoned its allies. 

“A Turkish attack will increase risks to our people, fracture the SDF, and enable ISIS’s resurgence. Clear picture,” McGurk warned before the announcement.


“Donald Trump is not a Commander-in-Chief. He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation. He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call,” McGurk added.

At the time, Trump ordered the immediate withdrawal of America’s 2,000 US personnel posted in northeast Syria, but later backtracked, saying the drawdown would be spread over several months.

In the second quarter of 2019, the US completed a partial drawdown called Operation Deliberate Resolve.

A report by the Pentagon Inspector General, citing the US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS, warned in June that a reduction or full withdrawal of troops could have catastrophic consequences, including the “collapse of the tentative democratic regional governance structures” that the US has supported. 

“The drawdown decreased the amount of resources and support available to these Syrian partner forces at a time when they need additional reinforcing for counterinsurgency operations against ISIS,” it said.

The SDF has lost more than 10,000 fighters in the war against ISIS since 2014 according to the group’s tops commander General Mazlum Abdi.

Turkey claims the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF, is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group which has fought Ankara since 1984. 

Ankara has repeatedly pressed Washington to rein in the YPG and SDF, fearing they pose a threat to its national security. 

 


The SDF has threatened to turn any Turkish invasion into an all-out war. 

“We will not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border to defend ourselves and our people,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted Saturday.

In an English-language press statement released on Monday, the SDF said: “Despite all the efforts we did to avoid conflict, our commitment to the security mechanism agreement and taking necessary steps on our end, the US forces did not carry out their responsibilities and have withdrawn from border areas with Turkey.”


“Turkey’s unprovoked attack on our areas will have a negative impact on our fight against ISIS and the stability and peace we have created in the region in the recent years. As the Syrian Democratic Forces, we are determined to defend our land at all costs. We call on our Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and Syriac people to strengthen their unity and stand by the SDF in defense of their land,” the statement added.

Ibrahim Kalin, the Turkish presidential spokesperson, tweeted on Monday morning that the so-called ‘safe zone’ which Turkey wants to establish along its border with Syria is intended to combat terrorism, secure Turkey’s southern flank, and ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees.

Iraqi Kurds who have worked closely with the SDF have also criticized the move.

Lahur Talabani, a senior security official in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, warned in a tweet that the US withdrawal and Turkish operation in northeast Syria would likely spill over into neighboring Iraq.