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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syria’s army have begun advancing towards the Kurdish-controlled northern towns of Kobani and Manbij on Sunday, the Kurdish-led administration of northeast Syria said, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)and Damascus negotiated a deal to prevent further Turkish advances in the area.
With Operation Peace Spring, Turkey aims to clear its border with Syria, to settle the Kurdish-majority area with up to three million, mostly Arab refugees in what opponents call demographic re-engineering.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) announced the deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in a Sunday evening statement.
“This deployment occurred through coordination and agreement with the Self-Administration Authority for Northern and Eastern Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces,” the statement said.
“To counter and prevent this [Turkish] attack, an agreement with the Syrian government, which is responsible for protecting the borders of the country and preserving Syrian sovereignty, has been reached for the Syrian army to enter and be deployed along the Syrian-Turkish border,” said the NES.
The Syrian Army deployment is to “support the Syrian Democratic Forces to counter this aggression and liberate the territory which the Turkish army and its hired mercenaries entered”, argued the Kurdish authority.
The deal also aims to “liberate” parts of Syria under Turkish-backed proxy control, including Afrin, taken from Kurdish forces in early 2018 during Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch.
The Syrian Army is now advancing towards Kobani, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, head of Kobani's Defense Authority told media.
“Tonight, the Syrian army will return to Kobani. Per the agreement with Russia, tonight the Syrian Army will return to Kobani,” Hassan said.
Syrian state media SANA also confirmed the deal in a tweet on Sunday evening. "Units of the Syrian Arab Army are moving towards the north to counter the Turkish aggression," said a SANA reporter.
SDF-affiliated media reported Sunday evening that the Syrian government’s Syrian Arab Army (SAA) troops would soon be entering Kobani and Manbij, per a deal between the SDF and the Syrian regime, to stave off Turkish incursion into those areas.
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported on Sunday evening that it had “confirmed information” that Russia and the SDF reached an agreement in which the Syrian regime troops would enter both Kobani and Manbij.
A number of Kurdish leaders in northern Syria have said US withdrawal from Kurdish-majority areas has forced them to turn to the Syrian government for help countering Turkish operations.
Fears of continued Turkish advance had prompted Omer Ousi, a Kurdish MP in the Syrian parliament, to urge both Damascus and the SDF to reach a deal and put an end to the Turkish operation.
In a statement sent to Rudaw detailing Ousi’s remarks during a Syrian Parliament session on Sunday, he purportedly condemned the Turkish operation and urged the Syrian government and the SDF to “undertake their responsibility.”
“This Turkish colonial occupation doesn’t just target SDF forces and the Kurdish minority, but rather the entire demographics of Syria, the geography of Syria, and all the components of the Syrian people,” the statement quoted Ousi as saying.
Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan wants to “occupy” the areas between Euphrates and Tigris River with a depth of 30-40 kilometers to “change the demography and exercise ethnic cleansing against Kurds and all the components of Syria”, Ousi argued.
Since Operation Peace Spring’s initiation, Damascus has said it would take steps to counter the Turkish incursion. However, they have also denounced “Kurdish organizations” for bringing the Turkish incursion upon themselves by betraying Syria and leaning on US assistance.
Last Sunday, US President Donald Trump appeared to greenlight a Turkish operation in the area by announcing US troop withdrawal from outposts along the Syria-Turkey border.
US withdrawal has been met with outrage by Kurdish leadership.
In exchanges with the Deputy Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, SDF’s commander-in-chief lamented US abandonment of the Kurds.
“You have given up on us. You are leaving us to be slaughtered," the SDF’s General Mazloum Kobani Abdi reportedly told William Roebuck.
Rudaw understands Abdi has tried to persuade the US to reverse its decision to withdraw, but to no avail.
“I need to know if you are capable of protecting my people, of stopping these bombs falling on us or not,” Abdi told Roebuck.
Alternative foreign assistance would otherwise be sought, the SDF general said.
“I need to know, because if you're not, I need to make a deal with Russia and the regime now and invite their planes to protect this region,” the SDF General added.
Casualties are continuing to mount as Turkey’s operation enters its fifth day. According to the SOHR, 64 civilians have so far been killed.
Updated at 10:41 pm
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