According to a senior YPG official who spoke on the matter yesterday (Thursday), Kurdish commanders have drawn up plans to link the Kurdish-held cities of Hasakah & Kobane with the western Efrin enclave in northwestern Syria. However, for this to happen, Kurdish fighters must cross around 100 kilometers of hostile lands held by various Islamist factions along the Syrian-Turkish border. Meanwhile, both the Turkish Government and Syrian Government have different ideas for the region.
Over the past year, the People’s Protections Units (YPG) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been advancing quickly along the Syrian-Turkish border. While not only breaking the siege on Kobane, Kurdish fighters have also cleared Hasakah city and advanced as far as Tishreen west of the Euphrates River.
Since late 2015, Kurdish fighters have also engaged in sporadic clashes with Islamist fighters of Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic Front and the Free Syrian Army on the outskirts of Azaz city. While several rebel-held villages have already been captured by Kurdish forces, the main goal of theses clashes seem to be the attempted capture of Azaz city and Menagh Airbase which is located close by.
Remarkably, this somewhat pre-planned offensive could deprive ISIS militants of a logistical route from Turkey that has been used by the Islamic State to bring in supplies and foreign recruits. If Kurdish fighters are able to capture Azaz, Jarabulus and the villages inbetween, this would effectively unite Kurdish forces across Syria.
While US military commanders unofficially back the Kurdish plans, their Turkish NATO ally firmly underlines it will not allow the Syrian Kurds to move west of the Euphrates. Separately, the Syrian Arab Army, aided by Russian air strikes, are edging closer to the ISIS-held stronghold of al-Bab which would interfere with Kurdish regional plans.
However, the political party affiliated with the YPG, the PYD, has been excluded from upcoming peace negotiations in Geneva. Meanwhile, the PKK, YPG and PYD say their exclusion undermines the peace process while the aforementioned groups simultaneously blames Turkey for obstructing the peace talks.
Be Civil
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Make it better
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
Now the hard part!
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.