Tabnak - As the fighting is still going on in different parts of Syria between various parties, Turkey’s stated plan to target Syrian Kurds and also its desire to continue advances toward Raqqa, has once again complicated the situation on the ground in the embattled country. At the same time, it renews the risks of a conflict between the Turkish and Syrian troops.
State-run news agency Anatolia quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu today as saying Turkey will attack the Syrian Kurdish group PYD in Manbij, northern Syria "unless the group withdraws”.
Speaking to journalists outside the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Cavusoglu said that Turkey and the United States "must not face off against each other because of Turkey's fight against other terrorist groups”. Ankara considers Kurdish armed groups in Syria as terrorists and claims that they are affiliated to PKK, a Kurdish militant group in Turkey.
In the meantime, in a move apparently devised to prevent a clash between Kurdish groups and Turkey, some media reported that Russia has managed to convince these groups to surrender parts of the territories they previously liberated from ISIS to the Syrian government.
The military council of Manbij announced in a statement that the Kurdish forces will surrender the villages bordering the areas occupied by the Turkey-backed Euphrates Shield Operation militants to the Syrian army. The statement said that based on an agreement with the Russian side, the control of these villages will be given to the Syrian government's border guards. This will allow Syrian government forces to create a buffer between them.
However, According to "Washington Post”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara there was no such agreement between Russia and the Syrian Kurds; a clear indication showing that Ankara don’t want to lose its excuse to expand the scope of its operation in Syria.
This is while, trying to take control of new territories in northern Syria, the Turkish backed troops have faced difficulties. The Arabic website "Al-Masdar News” quoted a military source as saying that the Syrian troops blocked the Euphrates Shield Operation forces' way to approach their positions in Za'aroureh town and set up a buffer zone to drive out the Ankara-backed forces from the town.
The statement was issued after sources in Tal Rifat Town's Military Council affiliated to the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant group disclosed on Wednesday that the council forces will no more partner in the Euphrates Shield Operations against ISIS in Northeastern Aleppo as they are preparing to shift war to their Kurdish rivals within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
On the other hand, Turkey still insists that it wants to have a central role in the operation for the liberation of Raqqa, the capital of ISIS’ self-declared Caliphate. In his latest remarks on the issue, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the United States does not yet have a clear plan for the liberation of Raqqa from ISIS.
He added that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) should not participate in the operation, calling it "unacceptable”.
Such positions taken by the high-ranking Turkish officials obviously indicates that in contrast to the earlier claims by Ankara that its operation was primarily focused on defeating ISIS, the most important part of Turkey’s new strategy in Syria is restricting the role of Kurdish groups in the country. At the same time, with new Turkish advances, the risks of conflict between Turkey or its supported armed groups and the Syrian army increase and this could in turn further complicate both the situation on the ground and the diplomatic peace negotiations.
