بواسطة Ibrahim Hamidi | مارس 9, 2020 | News, Reports, غير مصنف
لم يترك الرئيس فلاديمير بوتين طريقة، عسكرية أو رمزية، إلا وبعثها إلى الرئيس التركي رجب طيب إردوغان لـ«إقناعه» باتفاق حول إدلب يتضمن تراجعاً عن السقف الذي رسمه مقابل بعض من «حفظ ماء الوجه» وقبول الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد «تجميد» قرار استعادة فورية لمناطق شمال غربي سوريا.
لعب الرئيس بوتين دور «الحكم» بين الرئيسين الأسد وإردوغان والميزان بين سقفين، للوصول إلى اتفاق خفض طموحات التفاهمين السابقين في أستانة وسوتشي ويتضمن كثيرا من الأفخاخ، ما يرجح أن يكون «تفاهم موسكو» مؤقتا بانتظار جولة جديدة من الصراع.
– إشارات رمزية
في الطريق إلى موسكو، عرض كل من بوتين وإردوغان أوراقه السورية وغير السورية. ومن يعرف الماكينة الروسية الموروثة من الذهنية السوفياتية، يعرف أنه لا مكان للصدف وأن كل تفصيل له يقرر في الكرملين، لذلك فإن الإشارات الرمزية التي أقدمت عليها موسكو تحمل كثيرا من المعاني… فما هي؟ عسكرياً، لم يعرقل قصف قوات الحكومة السورية عشرات من عناصر الجيش التركي في جبل الزاوية جنوب إدلب . في ذلك، استفادة من تجربته مع واشنطن، عندما قتل الجيش الأميركي عشرات من «مرتزقة فاغنر» الروسية لدى محاولتها عبور نهر الفرات. الرسالة الأميركية لموسكو كانت أن نهر الفرات هو خط التماس. والرسالة الروسية لتركيا في جبل الزاوية، كانت أن هذا هو خط التماس.
كما عزز الجيش الروسي معداته في البحر المتوسط مقابل السواحل السورية، وأرسل عبر مضيق الفوسفور الفرقاطة «الأدميرال غريغوروفيتش» و«الفرقاطة ماكاروف» مع ثلاث سفن حملت عشرات ومئات الجنود والمدرعات والدبابات.
الرسالة الأبلغ إلى أنقرة، جاءت من اسمي الفرقاطتين الروسيتين اللتين ترتبطان بالحروب العثمانية – الروسية. ستيبان ماكاروف، هو الأدميرال الذي وجّه الضربة للبحرية العثمانية في الحرب الثنائية بين 1877 و1878. وإيفان غريغوروفيتش، آخر وزير لبحرية الإمبراطورية الروسية؛ من عام 1911 إلى 1917، لدى قصفها السواحل العثمانية في الحرب العالمية الأولى.
المفاجأة «السوفياتية» الأخرى التي كانت في انتظار الوفد التركي في الكرملين، هي تمثال كاترين الثّانية أو «كاترين العظيمة» القيصريّة. معروف عنها أن تحالفت مع كثر لوقف «مد العثمانيين» وخاضت حروبا معهم في 1768 وانتزعت جزيرة القرم في 1771 وصولاً إلى اتفاقية بعد ثلاث سنوات (إردوغان أعلن لدى زيارته كييف قبل أيام رفضه الاعتراف بضم موسكو لشبه جزيرة القرم). «كاترين العظيمة»، هي صاحبة المقولة المشهورة: «سوريا الكبرى هي مفتاح البيت الروسي» في المنطقة. توسعت في المنطقة تحت مظلة حماية مسيحيي الشرق وامتد نفوذها قبل أن يوقفها السلطان عبد الحميد الأول.
التمثال «العظيم»، كان يقف وراء الوفد التركي وأمام أعين «السلطان» الذي حرص على القول علنا أنه كان من المفروض ذهاب بوتين إلى إسطنبول أو عقد قمة رباعية روسية – تركية – ألمانية – فرنسية «لكن جئت إليكم بسبب انشغالكم بالتعديلات الدستورية» لعقد لقاء ثنائي فقط، كما أراد «القيصر».
– السقف التركي
أعلن الرئيس إردوغان أكثر من مرة أنه في حال لم تنسحب قوات الحكومة السورية في نهاية فبراير (شباط) إلى ما وراء خطوط اتفاق سوتشي الموقع في سبتمبر (أيلول) 2018، فإن جيشه سيبدأ «عملية عسكرية واسعة» للقيام بذلك مع فصائل موالية.
وبالفعل في بداية الشهر، أطلق وزير الدفاع خلوصي آكار عملية «درع السلام» لدفع قوات الحكومة وميليشيات إيران المحمية بالغطاء الروسي إلى وراء خطوط سوتشي بعدما تعرض لضربة موجعة بقتل عشرات من جنوده في 27 فبراير. وبعد اختبار حدود الدعم الأوروبي والأميركي والتصميم الروسي، خفض إردوغان السقف في 1 مارس (آذار) بالقول: «آمل بأن يتخذ بوتين التدابير اللازمة هناك في قمة موسكو (الخميس الماضي)، مثل وقف إطلاق النار وأن نجد حلاً لهذه القضية». كما قال آكار إن عملية أنقرة ضد قوات دمشق و«الهدف لم يكن الدخول في مواجهة مع روسيا».
وتحت حملة من استعراض المعدات العسكرية شملت تصوير طائرات «درون» التركية هجماتها وإسقاط ثلاث طائرات سوريا وإعادة قوات الحكومة عن بعض النقاط في جنوب إدلب وتبادل السيطرة، ذهب “السلطان” الـى الكرملين معه الوان الجيش التركي.
– التسوية
بعد محادثات لست ساعات، توصل بوتين وإردوغان لاتفاق تنفيذي لاتفاق سوتشي، تضمن: وقف النار على خطوط التماس في منطقة خفض التصعيد بإدلب. إنشاء ممر أمني بعمق 6 كلم على جانبي طريق حلب – اللاذقية، أي منطقة عازلة بعرض 12 كلم. تسير دوريات روسية – تركية بين ترمبة غرب سراقب وعين حور في ريف اللاذقية على الطريق السريع.
قبول إردوغان بذلك يعني أنه تراجع عن مطالبته بعودة قوات دمشق إلى حدود سوتشي وقبوله تشغيل الطريقين الدوليين بين حلب ودمشق وبين حلب واللاذقية ويعني تحمل أنقرة مسؤولية إقامة المنطقة العازلة وإبعاد فصائل معارضة أو متشددة من جانبي الطريق الدولي. لكنه حصل في المقابل، على «شرعنة» الوجود العسكري التركي المعزز في الفترة الأخيرة في شمال طريق حلب – اللاذقية، كما هو الحال في مناطق «درع الفرات» و«غضن الزيتون» و«نبع السلام». كما أبقى على نقاط المراقبة جزرا معزولة في مناطق سيطرة الحكومة «تحت رحمة المظلة الروسية»، وهو ما يفسر قبول دمشق التراجع عن خطة استعادة الطريقين بعملية عسكرية واسعة و«عدم التوقف عن محاربة الإرهاب» و«دحر العدوان التركي»، إضافة إلى الموافقة على قرار موسكو تسيير دوريات تركية في شمال غربي سوريا كما هو في شمالها الشرقي. لكن في المقابل، «شرعنت» دمشق المناطق التي «قضمتها» مؤخرا وحققت هدفها الاستراتيجي في «فتح شرايين الاقتصاد» وثبتت السيطرة على طريق حلب – سراقب – معرة النعمان – خان شيخون – حماة.
– الألغام
تضمن اتفاق بوتين – إردوغان الجديد، كثيرا من الألغام التي يمكن أن تفجره في مرحلة لاحقة، هي:
1- تضمنت مقدمته «إعادة التأكيد على التزامهما القوي بسيادة الجمهورية العربية السورية واستقلالها ووحدتها وسلامتها الإقليمية»، ما يعني أن «شرعنة» الوجود التركي ستبقى محل تساؤل في موسكو ودمشق، وهي خاضعة للمقايضات السياسية الكبرى بين روسيا وتركيا. وكان لافتا أن الاتفاق لم يتضمن القول إنه «مؤقت» كما هو الحال في اتفاق سوتشي.
2- تضمن «تأكيد تصميمهما على مكافحة جميع أشكال الإرهاب، والقضاء على جميع الجماعات الإرهابية في سوريا على النحو الذي حدده مجلس الأمن الدولي مع الاتفاق على أن استهداف المدنيين والبنية التحتية المدنية لا يمكن تبريره تحت أي ذريعة». يعني هذا أن لدى موسكو ودمشق «المبررات لاستئناف محاربة المتطرفين». يعني أيضا أن لأنقرة ذخيرة تفاوضية بـ«ضرورة عدم استهداف المدنيين أو البنية التحتية تحت أي ذريعة».
3- لم يتضمن الاتفاق أي إشارة إلى آلية رقابة على وقف النار وتنفيذ الخطوات اللاحقة، وترك ذلك إلى تقدير الجانبين الروسي والتركي من دون انخراط دمشق أو فصائل المعارضة.
4- إقامة «منطقة عازلة» على جانبي طريق حلب – اللاذقية تشبه تحدي إقامة «منطقة عازلة» بين قوات الحكومة وفصائل المعارضة بعمق 20 كلم بموجب اتفاق سوتشي، الأمر الذي لم يتحقق. كما لم تنجز مهمة تسيير دوريات مشتركة أو «متزامنة».
5 – تضمن عدداً من «النقاط الغامضة» ومسائل يصعب التعامل معها؛ خصوصاً بشأن الانسحاب من الطريق الدولي وترتيبات ذلك.
6- أعطى الاتفاق تركيا «حق الرد على أي هجمات من النظام» بالقدر نفسه الذي أعطاه لدمشق لـ«محاربة الإرهاب والرد على أي استفزازات»، ما يترك وقف النار عرضة لاختبارات عدة.
7- العقدة الرئيسية مرة ثانية، هي أن تفسير أنقرة لهذا الاتفاق يختلف عن تفسير موسكو ودمشق. الأولى، تريده بوابة لإقامة مديدة في شمال سوريا. بوتين يريده محطة للإبقاء على تركيا في الحضن الروسي واحتمال فتح أقنية بين دمشق وأنقرة. أما دمشق، فإنها تعتبره «استراحة قبل استئناف المعركة لاستعادة إدلب قبل التوجه شرقا لاستعادة جميع الأراضي».
**تم نشر نسخة من هذا المقال في «الشرق الأوسط».
بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | مارس 4, 2020 | Syria in a Week, غير مصنف
Aerial War Between Syria and Turkey
01 March 2020
Turkish forces downed two Syrian military jets in northwest Syria, according to Damascus, while Turkey said its offensive against Syrian forces in Idlib governorate will continue.
On the other hand, the Syrian official media said that the Syrian army downed three Turkish drones after Damascus closed off its airspace in northwest of the country and threatened to engage any plane that violates the airspace over Idlib governorate.
The Syrian army’s announcement of closing the airspace came after twenty-six of its soldiers were killed in a Turkish drone attack that targeted several military positions in the countryside of Idlib and Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The death toll of Syrian government forces as a result of the Turkish drone attacks and artillery bombardment has reached seventy-four deaths since Friday said the SOHR, adding that ten members of the Lebanese Hezbollah were also killed. Syria has not officially commented on this toll.
Refugees Once Again
29 February 2020
Some people are trying to cross the barbed wire fence while others are looking for wood and rocks to throw at the police. The final goal for thousands of refugees in Kastanies town, on the border between Turkey and Greece, is to reach Europe.
The five hundred police force have no other means to stop them. They fire tear gas every now and then to prevent what they fear could turn into a human flood trying to cross into Europe.
This all started after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to allow refugees to go from Turkey to Europe. He said that his country cannot handle new waves of refugees from Syria as it already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
A few hundred kilometers away from the tense situation in Kastanies, hundreds of refugees succeeded in entering northern Greece through the Evros river, which runs for two hundred kilometers along the border.
After Erdogan’s statement, which was met by criticism in Greece, armed forces were fanning out the Evros river – turned into a popular crossing point – and using loudspeakers to caution people from entering Greek territory. Greece has also used drones to monitor the movement of migrants. However, the border area is vast, and it would be difficult for observation teams to cover it all.
The chief of the border patrol union Panagiotios Harilas showed reporters a number of tear gas canisters used by Turkish forces which he said were thrown at Greek forces by the migrants.
Erdogan Calls on Putin to “Step Down”
29 February 2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened on Saturday to allow thousands of refugees to head toward Europe, saying that Damascus will “pay the price” for an attack that killed more than thirty Turkish soldiers in Syria.
Turkey said it destroyed “a chemical weapons facility, thirteen kilometers south of Aleppo, in addition to a number of targets for the Syrian government,” within the context of its response to the killing of its soldiers in Idlib.
“We did not want things to reach this point, but they forced us to do this. They will pay the price,” Erdogan said.
Syrian television denied such a facility existed.
Thirty-three Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike by Russian-backed Syrian forces on Sunday, the biggest military loss for the Turkish army in years. Another Turkish soldier was later killed raising the toll to thirty-four.
Erdogan made a phone call to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday in an attempt to defuse the escalation. The Kremlin said that the two parties expressed “deep concern” over the situation.
Erdogan might head to Moscow next week to hold talks, the Kremlin said. The Turkish president, however, continued his criticism of Russia on Saturday.
Postponing the Arab Summit
29 February 2020
The restoration of Syria’s membership in the Arab League is a decision that should be made by all member states, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheil said on Saturday, adding that there are no official or written initiatives in this regard.
In a joint press conference with the Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum, Gheit said that the Arab summit could be held before the end of June, adding that it would be up to Algeria considering that it is the host country for the thirty-second edition of the summit.
Current global conditions, especially from a health perspective, raise concern over meetings and gatherings, said Gheit. Therefore, we will discuss the matter with the Algerian President Abdul Majeed Taboun in my meeting with him and the decision will be made in coordination with Algeria given that it is the host country, he added.
A Four-way Summit
25 February 2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that there has been not “total agreement” in regard to a summit on Syria that would join the leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany, raising doubts about the anticipated meeting next week.
In a press conference in Ankara, the Turkish president said that there has been no “total agreement” between the French President Emanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the one hand and the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the other hand.
Erdogan had announced on Saturday that a four-way summit on Syria would be held on 5 March, in an initiative to find a solution to the crisis in Idlib, northwest of Syria, where the offensive by the Syrian government has triggered a humanitarian crisis.
“In a worst-case scenario,” a bilateral summit with the Russian president could be held on the same date, Erdogan said on Tuesday.
بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | نوفمبر 13, 2019 | Syria in a Week
The following is a selection by our editors of significant weekly developments in Syria. Depending on events, each issue will include anywhere from four to eight briefs. This series is produced in both Arabic and English in partnership between Salon Syria and Jadaliyya. Suggestions and blurbs may be sent to info@salonsyria.com.
“Committee” is Better
Reuters
8 November 2019
The opening round of the first Syrian peace talks in more than a year went “better than most people would have expected”, said the UN special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, although delegates described a chilly atmosphere with those from opposing sides not yet shaking hands. Representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition met in Geneva to discuss a future constitution, part of plans for a political settlement to end eight and a half years of war. Expectations for the talks have been low, with Damascus and its Iranian and Russian allies having made gains on the battlefield that left them few reasons to grant concessions.
The government delegation had been seeking to hold the next round of talks in Syria’s capital, which the opposition had strongly resisted. The talks are focused on drawing up a constitution with a view to eventually hold elections in Syria, a less sweeping agenda than at UN-sponsored talks earlier in the war. In Geneva last week, the one hundred and fifty delegates agreed the composition of a smaller forty-five-member drafting body tasked with writing a draft of the constitution that would be eventually presented to Syrian voters.
After ten days of talks, there was no immediate agreement on the release of thousands of detainees, an issue that Pedersen has underscored as key to building confidence. Nor was there consensus on whether delegates from the so-called small group in charge of drafting the constitution would adapt a 2012 constitution or start afresh with a new one.
Talks between the parties were often heated, delegates said, particularly on the issue of “terrorism”, a term used by the government side to refer to insurgents, with the government body seeking to incorporate this within the constitutional reform project. The opposition side resisted this.
Syria with Equal Opportunities!
Reuters
11 November 2019
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said the Syrian presidential elections in 2021 would be open to anybody who wants to run and that there would be numerous challengers for the presidency.
Al-Assad, who made the comment in an interview broadcast on Monday on the Russian television channel RT, faced two challengers at the 2014 election which he won by a landslide, but which his opponents dismissed as a charade. “Last time we were three and this time of course we are going to have as much as they want to nominate. There are going to be numerous nominees,” Al-Assad said.
President Al-Assad said that the Syrian government is socialist and has rejected privatization and so has the syndicates. “The majority rejected neo-liberal policies because we realized they would destroy the poor,” he said, adding “we still have the public sector and we are still supporting the poor and providing support for bread, fuel, and schools… we have not changed that policy, but we opened the doors further for the private sector. Therefore, you cannot call this a liberalization of economy.”
It should be mentioned that Syria has adopted liberal economic policies since the 1980’s, which accelerated in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
Bombardment of Idlib
Reuters
8 November 2019
UN rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Friday that more than sixty medical facilities have been hit in Syria’s Idlib governorate in the past six months, including four this week, and appear to have been deliberately targeted by government-affiliated forces.
The Northeast Between Turkey and Russia
Reuters
8, 9 November 2019
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Turkey’s military offensive in Syria in a phone call on Saturday, Turkey’s presidency said.
Turkey launched its cross-border offensive one month ago, saying it aimed to drive Kurdish-led forces from the border region and create a “safe zone” to settle Syrian refugees.
It halted its advance under a deal with the United States which called for the withdrawal from the border of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Erdogan later agreed on a separate deal with Moscow, which also called for the YPG to withdraw at least thirty kilometers from the border, but has since said that neither Washington nor Moscow has been able to deliver on the deals.
The Turkish statement on Saturday said Erdogan and Putin confirmed their commitment to the accord they struck at a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi which also paved the way for joint Russian-Turkish military patrols inside Syria.
Explosion in Suluk
Reuters
10 November 2019
Turkey’s defense ministry and local emergency workers said eight people were killed when a bomb exploded on Sunday in an area of northeast Syria controlled by Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies. The ministry said the bombing, which it blamed on the Kurdish YPG, took place southeast of the Syrian town of Tal Abyad which Turkey captured in a military offensive that began one month ago.
Turkey halted its military advance when it struck deals with the United States and Russia calling for the YPG to be moved at least thirty kilometers away from Syria’s border with Turkey. The village of Suluk, where Sunday’s explosion took place, is around ten kilometers south of the border. A small truck exploded outside a bakery there, an emergency worker said.
Oil is for the SDF
Reuters
6, 7 November 2019
The Pentagon said on Thursday that revenue from oilfields in northeastern Syria will go to US-backed forces rather than the United States itself.
During a news conference announcing the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US raid last month, Trump had raised the possibility of American oil companies taking over the oilfields in northeastern Syria, currently operated by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Washington’s Syrian Kurdish allies.
His comments drew sharp rebukes from lawyers and experts, who said the move was likely a legally dubious one. On Wednesday, a senior State Department official said there was no direction from the White House to pursue such a way forward.
بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | أكتوبر 23, 2019 | Syria in a Week
The following is a selection by our editors of significant weekly developments in Syria. Depending on events, each issue will include anywhere from four to eight briefs. This series is produced in both Arabic and English in partnership between Salon Syria and Jadaliyya. Suggestions and blurbs may be sent to info@salonsyria.com.
US Withdrawal
20 October 2019
US forces withdrew on Sunday from Sarrien airport – largest US military base in northeast Syria – following Washington’s recent decision to withdraw a thousand troops from the area, according to an AFP correspondent and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The AFP correspondent saw more than seventy military armored vehicles raising the US flag passing the city of Tal Tamr in al-Hasakeh governorate, as helicopters flying nearby accompanied them.
The SOHR chief Rami Abdul Rahman told the AFP that the convey evacuated from Sarrien airport, which US forces had used as a base – thirty kilometers south of Kobani (Ain Arab). The base is situated on the outskirts of a buffer zone that Ankara is trying to establish in northeast Syria, where it has launched, along with allied Syrian factions, an attack against Kurdish fighters since 9 October. Turkey was able to take control of a one hundred and twenty kilometer border strip.
US forces withdrew from three other bases last week, including a base in the city of Manbej and another near Kobani.
Besiege of Ras al-Ain
19 October 2019
The Syrian National Army – allied to the Turkish army – cut off the road between Ras al-Ain and Tal Tamr in the northwest countryside of al-Hasakeh governorate, effectively enforcing a total besiege of Ras al-Ain.
A source close to the Syrian army told a German news agency that armed groups attacked Syrian army posts in al-Ahras village – fifteen kilometers northwest of Tal Tamr. The Syrian army was able to repel the attack, and members of the armed groups returned to the area they came from.
Repatriation of ISIS Fighters
19 October 2019
The investigative judge David Douba –coordinator of the anti-terrorism division of the Paris court, warned in an interview with the AFP that failure to repatriate detained French jihadists in Syria “constitutes a danger on the general security” in France.
“The political instability and the ease of breaching the remaining Kurdish camps raise two concerns: a disorderly immigration of jihadists to Europe with the risk of attacks by radical ideologists on the one hand, and the reformation of militant terrorist groups which are highly trained and determined on the other hand,” Douba said in an unprecedented statement, at a time French authorities refuse the return of these jihadists.
France has around two hundred people and three hundred children in camps and prisons under Kurdish control in Syria. It refuses to repatriate them, like many other countries, because of public discontent and wants them to be prosecuted close to where they committed their crimes.
However, after Turkey launched on 9 October its offensive against Kurdish fighter in northern Syria, Western countries fear that twelve thousand jihadists detained by the Kurds in Syria, including 2,500 to 3,000 foreigners, may flee.
Fragile Truce
18 October 2019
Hours after Washington declared a ceasefire, Turkish war planes launched an airstrike that killed a number of civilians in Kurdish-controlled areas in northeast Syria as sporadic clashes continued in a border town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Kurdish fighters on Sunday said they do not intend to withdraw from all of the north-east border of Syria – which is exactly what the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expects to happen according to a ceasefire deal brokered by the United States on Thursday.
Bloomberg news agency said that the conflicting interpretations denote the fragility of the five-day ceasefire.
Drawing a Ceasefire
17 October 2019
Turkey agreed on Thursday to pause its offensive in northeast Syria and halt it all together if Kurdish fighters withdrew from the area in five days, according to a deal drawn by US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara.
In order for Kurdish forces to withdraw “within one hundred twenty hours, all military operations of the Peace Spring operation will be paused, and they will be completely halted once this withdrawal is finalized,” Pence told reporters after talks with Erdogan that lasted for more than four hours.
Kurdish forces have to withdraw some thirty-two kilometers away from the border and the area would eventually turn into a “safe zone” – which Turkey has been seeking for months.
ISIS Liberates
17 October 2019
ISIS said on Thursday that it “liberated” a number of women detained by Kurdish fighters, after an attack on one of their headquarters in the governorate of Raqqa in northern Syria, according to a statement posted on jihadists’ accounts on Telegram.
This follows a series of incidents after Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) left their positions to repel an attack by Ankara and allied Syrian factions against areas under SDF control, in which around eight hundred people of ISIS family members fled the camp for displaced people and jihadists fled from prisons, in addition to riots in other detention centers.
Al-Assad Confronts
17 October 2019
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to respond to the attack launched by Turkey on 9 October in northeast Syria “by all legitimate means,” according to the Syrian official news agency SANA.
Al-Assad said in a meeting with an Iraqi official that the Turkish attack is “a blatant invasion and an evident aggression,” adding that Syria “will respond and confront it in all of its forms on all Syrian territory and by all available legitimate means,” after government forces deployed in numerous areas near the border with Turkey under an agreement with the Kurds.
Evacuation
16 October 2019
The Kurdish self-administration called upon the international community to intervene and open a “humanitarian corridor” to evacuate civilians and wounded people who are “besieged” in the border town of Ras al-Ain after Turkish forces and allied Syrian factions encircled it and fierce clashes erupted.
Since 9 October, Turkey has launched an attack in northeast Syria, displacing more than three hundred thousand civilians. It was able to control vast border areas, but not Ras al-Ain where the battles are concentrated.
Incursion Numbers
16 October 2019
The repercussion of the Turkish attack on the humanitarian situation in Syria in numbers:
– Three million people reside in northeast Syria.
– Seventy-two civilians were killed by the Turkish army and allied factions.
– Twenty civilians were killed on the Turkish side of the border.
– One million and eight hundred thousand people are in need of aid.
– Three hundred thousand people fled their homes in border areas.
– Eighty-three thousand newly displaced people received aid.
– Forty schools were turned into shelters.
– Around one thousand civilians fled from the Kurdish self-administration to Kurdistan in Iraq.
– Four hundred thousand people in the city of al-Hasakeh and its surrounding face water shortages.
– Sixty-eight thousand displaced people reside in al-Hol Camp for displaced people.
– Thirty-two international non-governmental organizations suspended their activities and withdrew international staff in areas under the control of the self-administration.
– Three million and six hundred thousand Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey since the onset of the conflict in 2011. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to repatriate a large portion of them to the buffer zone he wants to establish near the border.
– Ninety percent of Syria’s total cereal crop is produced in northeast Syria.
The House and Trump
16 October 2019
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly (354 votes to 60 votes) to condemn President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, in an official embodiment of the stark position of both the Democratic and Republican parties against the controversial foreign policy of the Trump administration.
This joint resolution is the first condemnation by Congress of Trump’s decision, which was considered by opponents as a green light for Turkish forces to invade northern Syria and attack Kurdish forces.
Kobani and Damascus
15 October 2019
Syrian government forces entered the city of Kobani (Ain Arab) in northern Syria under an agreement with the Kurdish self-administration to confront the ongoing Turkish attack against areas under Kurdish control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Kobani possesses a special symbolism as it was witness in 2015 to the first prominent battles in which Kurdish fighters, with support from the US-led international coalition, defeated the Islamic State.
Since then, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) have become the spearhead in the fight against the radical group. The YPG’s relation with Washington strengthened as the latter continued to provide support after the YPG joined the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition.
After an attack by Turkey and allied Syrian faction on 9 October and in face of Washington’s determination to withdraw its troops from areas under Kurdish control, the Kurds had no solution but to resort to Damascus and its ally Moscow.
The outcome unfolded on Sunday, as the Kurdish self-administration announced a deal with Damascus that provides for the deployment of Syrian government forces along the border with Turkey to support the Syrian Democratic Forces in confronting the Turkish attack.
Under the deal and in the last two days, government forces deployed in the city of Manbej (northeast of Aleppo), the town of Tal Tamr (northwest of al-Hasakeh), and the surrounding area of Ain Issa (north of Raqqa).
بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | أكتوبر 16, 2019 | Syria in a Week
The following is a selection by our editors of significant weekly developments in Syria. Depending on events, each issue will include anywhere from four to eight briefs. This series is produced in both Arabic and English in partnership between Salon Syria and Jadaliyya. Suggestions and blurbs may be sent to info@salonsyria.com.
Turkey Declares the Offensive
Reuters
9 October 2019
Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies have launched their military operation into northeastern Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, adding that the offensive aimed to eliminate a “terror corridor” along the southern Turkish border.
Erdogan said the offensive, dubbed “Operation Peace Spring”, would aim to eliminate threats from the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Islamic State militants, and enable the return of Syrian refugees in Turkey after the formation of a “safe zone” in the area. “Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area… we will preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists,” Erdogan said on Twitter.
Turkish Invasion
Reuters
14 October 2019
The United States said on Sunday it will withdraw around one thousand troops from northern Syria in the face of an expanding Turkish offensive while Syria’s army struck a deal with Kurdish fighters to redeploy along the border with Turkey. The developments illustrate Washington’s waning influence over events in Syria and the failure of the US policy of keeping the Syrian government from reasserting state authority over areas lost during the more than eight-year conflict with rebels.
The developments also represent wins for Russia and Iran, which have backed the Syrian government since 2011 when its violent effort to crush what began as peaceful protests exploded into a full-blown civil war. While the US withdrawal moves American troops out of the line of fire, the return of Syrian soldiers to the Turkish border opens up the possibility of a wider conflagration should the Syrian army come in direct conflict with Turkish forces.
The Turkish onslaught in northern Syria has also raised the prospect that Islamic State militants and their families held by the Kurdish forces targeted by Turkey may escape – scores were said to have done so already – and permit the group’s revival.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said the offensive would extend from Kobani in the west to Hasaka in the east and extend some thirty kilometers into Syrian territory, with the town of Ras al Ain now in Turkish control.
The military operation has sparked international concerns that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would be unable to keep thousands of jihadists in jail and tens of thousands of their family members in camps.
The region’s Kurdish-led administration said seven hundred and eighty-five ISIS-affiliated foreigners escaped the camp at Ain Issa but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), citing sources in the camp, said around one hundred people had escaped.
Erdogan dismissed the reports and told the state-run Anadolu news agency that accounts of escapes by Islamic State prisoners were “disinformation” aimed at provoking the West.
New reports of civilian casualties surfaced. A Turkish air strike in Ras al-Ain killed fourteen people including ten civilians on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The SDF said a “civilian convoy” had been targeted.
Russia and Talks Between Damascus and Kurds
Reuters
13 October 2019
The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been holding negotiations with Russian participation, a Syrian Kurdish politician said on Sunday, expressing hope for a deal that would halt a Turkish attack.
Ahmed Suleiman, a senior member of the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria, said the talks were being held at Russia’s Hmeimim airbase in Lattakia, although a source close to the Syrian government said they were taking place in Damascus. “We hope an agreement is reached that halts the war and its dangerous and catastrophic consequences on the citizens east of the Euphrates”, said Suleiman, who is from the city of Qamishli in a part of Syria held by the SDF.
Syrian Army to Kobani
Reuters
13 October 2019
The Lebanese broadcaster al-Mayadeen said on Sunday the Syrian army would deploy within forty-eight hours to the town of Kobani which is held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the nearby town of Manbij which is controlled by SDF-aligned forces. The towns fall within a swath of northern Syria controlled by the SDF that is currently being targeted in an offensive by Turkey and Turkey-backed Syrian rebel groups.
Turkish-backed Opposition
Reuters
9 October 2019
Turkey’s rebel allies in northern Syria said on Wednesday they would have no mercy on Syrian Kurdish fighters in the northeast, whom they said had left them no choice but a battle.
“Strike them with an iron fist, make them taste the hell of your fires,” a statement from the National Army, the main Turkey-backed rebel force told its fighters. It also called for sparing civilians and those who defected to the rebels.
Europe Condemns
Reuters
10 October 2019
Turkey’s offensive on Kurdish-led forces in Syria has left its European allies incensed and fearing new jihadist militancy.
The assault, which began after US President Donald Trump pulled US troops out of the way, also raises fundamental questions over the fate of EU-Turkey ties and further strains transatlantic relations, including trust within the NATO military alliance, diplomats and officials said.
It complicates further any prospect of Ankara joining the European Union and threatens a migration deal between Brussels and Ankara that has slashed refugee numbers entering the bloc but which was under renewed pressure by new refugees trying to reach Europe.
“This is a recipe for disaster, be it for the Turks, the Kurds, or us,” said a senior European diplomat. “This Turkish intervention is a complete distraction that will open up a Pandora’s box.”
Ankara has said it intends to create a “safe zone” to return millions of refugees to Syrian soil, for which it wants Europe to pay, a plan European diplomats have said is unrealistic. All twenty-eight EU governments on Wednesday rejected those plans, saying they would not provide aid. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was blunt, saying: “Don’t expect the EU to pay for any of it.”
But how much Europe can do to pressure Ankara is unclear. It relies on Turkey to curb the arrival of refugees into Europe following a 2016 agreement to seal off the Aegean route after more than one million people entered the bloc.
Arabs are Angry!
Reuters
12 October 2019
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday led Arab foreign ministers in lambasting Turkey’s military operation in northeast Syria as an “invasion of an Arab state’s land and an aggression on its sovereignty.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali al-Hakim, president of the current Arab League session, also condemned Turkey’s offensive into Syria during an emergency meeting of the body, called by Egypt.
According to the final statement, the league called on the UN Security Council to “take the necessary measures to stop the Turkish aggression and for the withdrawal from Syrian territory immediately.”
Turkey dismissed the Arab League statement, saying it misrepresented its military operations.
ISIS Once Again
Reuters
11 October 2019
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in the Syrian city of Qamishli which it said had targeted Kurdish militants. ISIS fighters detonated the parked car near a Kurdish security position in the city, the group said in a report on its Amaq news agency. The internal security forces in the Kurdish-led self-administration in north-east Syria had previously said that a car bomb detonated in Qamishli on Friday, killing at least three civilians and injuring nine others.
Protest Marches
Reuters
12 October 2019
Thousands of Kurds and their local supporters rallied in France and in Greece on Saturday to protest against Turkey’s military action in northeast Syria.
In Paris, about three thousand people gathered at the Place de la Republique after an earlier protest near the Eiffel Tower. People carried banners denouncing the Turkish offensive and calling on France to help the Kurds.
In Athens, about two thousand Kurds and Greeks marched to the Turkish embassy in central Athens waving Kurdish flags and banners reading “Stop the invasion now”.
