“We are deeply concerned about reports and discussions of potential increased military activity in northern Syria and in particular its impact on the civilian population there,” Ned Price, the US state department spokesperson said from Washington DC on Tuesday, adding that the US condemns any escalation and supports maintaining ceasefire lines.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that his country’s army and intelligence are making preparations to launch new military operations along its southern border to complete the 30km-deep “safe zone” it planned years ago, likely aimed at Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Price stated that the US expects Turkey to honor their 2019 agreement to pause its military operations in northern Syria, adding that maintaining the ceasefire lines was “crucial” for enhancing Syria’s stability, and calling for a “political solution” to the conflict.
In October 2019, Turkey and the United States reached an agreement to halt Turkish military offensives in northern Syria to allow US forces to facilitate the safe withdrawal of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the 20-mile-wide ‘safe zone’ along the shared border.
The spokesperson said that the US recognizes Turkey’s “legitimate” security concerns on its borders, but a new military operation would further jeopardize the region’s stability as well as putting at risk the US-led coalition’s mission against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Turkey claims that the YPG, the backbone of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey, designated a terrorist group by Ankara.
Ankara also claims that the YPG poses a threat to its borders and it has held the group responsible for several rocket attacks on its borders, saying the rockets were fired from Syria. Turkey and its Syrian proxies regularly attack the SDF in northeast Syria (Rojava). Kurdish officials and commanders have accused Ankara of violating the 2019 agreements with Russians and Americans.
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