Clashes with Turkey likely in days: Syrian Kurdish militants

The head of a US-backed Kurdish militant group fighting in Syria says a confrontation is likely “within days” between his fighters and the Turkish forces recently deployed to Syria’s Aleppo Province.

“These [Turkish military] preparations have reached level of a declaration of war and could lead to the outbreak of actual clashes in the coming days. We will not stand idly by against this potential aggression,” said Sipan Hemo, the Commander of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), told Reuters on Wednesday.

Turkey and Kurds harbor historical hostilities toward one another. Ankara considers Kurdish populations, whether in Syria, Iraq, or Turkey itself, as “terrorist” groups bent on taking away territory from Turkish soil.

The YPG fighters have been involved in a major attack against Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Syria’s northern city of Raqqah since June. And Turkey has deployed forces to Syria without obtaining a permission from the Syrian government.

The YPG is part of a larger coalition of fighters — the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — which has been engaged in operations aimed at liberating Raqqah. The US considers the SDF, which also includes Arab fighters, as its main proxy force fighting on the ground in Syria.

Ankara has already expressed its deep concern about the advancement of YPG forces in northern Syria.

Hemo indicated that the YPG would continue to fight Daesh terrorists even after their defeat in Raqqah, saying it was committed with “the international coalition to cleansing Syria of terrorism,” referring to a US-led coalition carrying out aerial bombardment against purported Daesh positions in Syria.

The US’s provision of weapons to the YPG has further incensed Turkey, a NATO member, prompting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to warn the White House about the purported consequences of arming the “terrorist” YPG.

In an attempt to address Turkish concerns, the US said last month that it would have the Kurdish fighters in Syria disarmed once Daesh has been flushed out of Raqqah. Turkey wasn’t impressed. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Wednesday that no group armed in the Middle East had ever returned the weapons it had received.

Washington has “formed more than a terrorist organization there, they formed a small-scale army,” he said.

Kurtulmus also retorted that Hemo’s claims about a declaration of war by Ankara was not true, saying that his country would however respond to any hostile move by the YPG.

ME