LONDON (Realist English). The United States has barred Turkey from conducting a ground military operation in Syria. This was stated by the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi in an interview with the publication Asharq Al-Awsat.
«I believe the American pressure on Ankara played a hand to an extent. With time, international pressure also mounted on Ankara.”
I believe the American pressure on Ankara played a hand to an extent. With time, international pressure also mounted on Ankara. Ankara violated understandings that it had reached with Russia and the US alike. This prompted the major pressure that in turn led to a drop in strikes. The second factor, frankly, is that we, as a military force, had been well prepared.
For example, the Kobani (Ain al-Arab) region, Manbij and Tal Rifaat were heavily attacked by Turkish jets and artillery, and yet, the SDF did not lose a single member. The Turks did not achieve their desired result”, — Abdi explained.
According to him, the Kurdish militia of Syria asks the Americans “to keep up the pressure so that the Turks, specifically [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, would realize that they cannot launch any operation if they wanted to remain in power and continue to rule after the upcoming elections.”
The Kurdish commander also recalled that the last Turkish operation of 2019 took place thanks to coordination between Ankara and the administration of US President Donald Trump:
“At the time, coordination was ongoing between the Trump administration and the Turks, which led to the operation that we deemed a betrayal at the time. to take place. And to be honest, the American administration has since 2019 been exerting the greatest pressure to prevent Türkiye from carrying out a new ground operation. They have not allowed it. Now, they have stated that the Biden administration will not allow a destructive ground operation to happen. ”
We are always worried, but we hope the new American administration would fulfill its pledges and past commitments with Türkiye. We hope it would keep its word and prevent Türkiye from carrying out any operation.
Earlier, according to Axios, citing two sources in Washington, CIA Director William Burns sharply demanded that the head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, stop artillery and air strikes on northern Syria, warning that they endanger the American forces.
