{"id":59339,"date":"2018-02-21T05:09:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T05:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=59339"},"modified":"2018-02-21T05:09:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T05:09:07","slug":"syria-pro-government-forces-enter-afrin-to-aid-kurds-against-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/syria-pro-government-forces-enter-afrin-to-aid-kurds-against-turkey.html","title":{"rendered":"Syria pro-government forces enter Afrin to aid Kurds against Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syria pro-government forces enter Afrin to aid Kurds against Turkey<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria\u2019s northwestern Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after the convoy of militia fighters – waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons – entered Afrin, Syrian state media reported that Turkey had targeted them with shellfire.<\/span><\/p>\n

The confrontation pits the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebel groups directly against the military alliance backing the government of President Bashar al-Assad, further scrambling northwest Syria\u2019s already messy battlefield.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described the convoy as being made up of \u201cterrorists\u201d acting independently. He said Turkish artillery fire had forced it to turn back, although the Kurdish militia denied this.<\/span><\/p>\n

A commander in the pro-Assad military alliance told Reuters the forces had turned back after coming under fire, but then resumed their progress and were now in Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Syrian television had earlier shown the group of fighters passing through a checkpoint that bore the insignia of the Kurdish security force, some chanting \u201cone Syria, one Syria\u201d, and driving further into Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ankara\u2019s month-old offensive is aimed at driving the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as a big security threat on its border, from Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The YPG hailed the arrival of the pro-government forces – which included militias allied to Assad but not the Syrian army itself – and said they were deploying along the front line facing the Turkish border.<\/span><\/p>\n

It made no mention of a deal that a Kurdish official said on Sunday had been struck with Assad\u2019s government for the Syrian army itself to enter Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan said he had previously reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani, Assad\u2019s main international backers, to block Syrian government support for the YPG fighters.<\/span><\/p>\n

The commander in the pro-Assad alliance said Russia had intervened to \u201cdelay the entry of a large (number of) Syrian army forces\u201d into Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan described the pro-government fighters coming to the YPG\u2019s aid as Shi\u2018ite militias, and said they would pay a heavy price.<\/span><\/p>\n

YPG media adviser Rezan Hedo denied Erdogan\u2019s assertion that the convoy had turned back under Turkish artillery fire, but he gave no details on its size or composition. A Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said one convoy had entered Afrin while another turned back.<\/span><\/p>\n

RUSSIAN ROLE<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkish markets faced a broad sell-off in response to news seen as indicating that a swift victory for the Turkish campaign in Afrin could be more difficult than Ankara had expected, and that battle there could unsettle relations with Russia or Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lira weakened as much as 1.5 percent against the dollar, while stocks tumbled more than 2 percent \u2013 their biggest one-day drop in five weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s dollar-denominated bonds also came under pressure, with longer-dated issues dropping 1 cent. The cost of insuring exposure to its sovereign debt rose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday, Erdogan said he had received Putin\u2019s agreement to block a Syrian government deployment in Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkey and Russia have supported opposite sides throughout the war, with Moscow the closest ally of Assad and Ankara one of the principal supporters of rebels fighting to overthrow him.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in recent months Turkey has lent support to a Russian-led effort to end the war with most population centers in the hands of Assad\u2019s government. Ankara said last month it sought Moscow\u2019s agreement before launching the Afrin assault.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday the Afrin crisis could be resolved through direct negotiations between Damascus and Ankara.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assad\u2019s other main ally, Iran, is more closely involved than Russia with the militias that back the Syrian government on the ground, such as those who entered Afrin on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Turkish offensive has made gains along almost all the border area with Afrin, pushing several km (miles) into Syria and seizing villages. But the YPG still holds most of the region including its main town, also called Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

STRAINS WITHIN NATO<\/span>
\n\u201cThe besieging of the Afrin city centre will start rapidly in the coming days,\u201d Erdogan said on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The entry of pro-government forces into Afrin draws more attention to the uneasy relationship between Damascus and the YPG. They have mostly avoided direct confrontation during the conflict, but the Kurds seek autonomy in regions they hold, while Assad has pledged to assert his control over all of Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurdish political leaders have said they were forced to seek help from Assad\u2019s military because no foreign powers would help them against Turkish forces in Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia deployed military police in Afrin last year, but pulled them out last month before the Turkish offensive began.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States has armed the YPG as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance it backs against Islamic State. U.S. troops are on the ground in other parts of Syria run by the Kurdish-led administration, but not in Afrin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s support for the YPG has caused deep ructions in its relations with its NATO ally Turkey. In the case of the Afrin offensive, Washington has said it supports Turkey\u2019s right to defend itself, while calling for Ankara to show restraint.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reporting by Gulsen Solaker, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay in Ankara, Ellen Francis, Lisa Barrington and Laila Bassam in Beirut and Polina Ivanova in Moscow; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Roche and Gareth Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-mideast-crisis-syria-afrin\/syria-pro-government-forces-enter-afrin-to-aid-kurds-against-turkey-idUSKCN1G41WG<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t