“While the probability of a military campaign in the city of Idlib and its surroundings increases, some media outlets have been speaking about the participation of our forces in this operation. This kind of allegation is mere speculation and is far from the truth,” Mahmud said in a statement.
“As the People’s Protection Units and Women’s Defense Units (YPJ), we assure the public that our forces are continuing their hard struggle against the ISIS terrorist organization and are determined to root it out from northeastern Syria.”
The YPG makes up the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is fighting the last remnants of ISIS in Deir ez-Zor province near the Iraqi border.
“We continue our legitimate and rightful struggle against the Turkish invasion army that declares its presence in Afrin as lawful and against the ISIS terrorist organization, supported by the invader Turkish state,” said Mahmud.
“Likewise, we confirm that there is no presence of our forces in Idlib,” he added.
The YPG was forced to withdraw from Syria’s northeastern canton of Afrin in March this year after Ankara and its Syrian proxies took over the Kurdish-majority region.
Rumors began to circulate during the summer that Kurdish forces could collaborate with Assad if it helped remove the Turkish military from Afrin.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) has recently held meetings with Damascus officials to discuss cooperation on infrastructure projects, lending weight to these rumors.
SDC officials insist they are merely sounding out the regime about the creation of an autonomous federal region in Syria modeled on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Following a string of victories in rebel held areas around Damascus and the south, Assad has said he intends to retake the entire country – including the self-governing Kurdish provinces in the north.
The SDC and SDF control more than a quarter of the country, including oil and gas fields, the Euphrates dam, and long stretches of border with Turkey and Iraq.
The Kurds have largely maintained an uneasy truce with regime forces throughout the conflict. With Damascus occupied elsewhere, the Kurds were able to set up their own administration modeled on the political philosophy of democratic confederalism.
A fatal skirmish in Qamishli in early September between Kurdish Asayish security forces and regime troops threatened upset this shaky truce.
Anti-regime forces are now dug in for a last stand in Idlib, home to some three million people. Syrian and Russian planes have carried out multiple forays, striking alleged rebel targets.
Rebel forces in Idlib are from two main camps – National Liberation Front rebels backed by Turkey and the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham – led by Al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria.
The UN has warned any assault on Idlib could lead to “the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the 21st century”.
