Turkey’s military issued a statement Tuesday, claiming that they’d killed at least 260 fighters in the course of the first four days of the invasion of Syria’s Afrin District, which is under the control of the Kurdish YPG.
This is a much higher death toll than reported elsewhere, and perhaps even more puzzling, the statement said all the killed were either Kurdish fighters or ISIS militants, though there is no sign ISIS even has a presence in Afrin, let alone fought anybody.
Turkey has long tried to present ISIS and the YPG as both terrorists of equal concern to them, but the two factions have been violently at odds for years. All indications are that Afrin District is solidly Kurdish-controlled, at least ahead of this invasion.
Since the invasion, there’s been a lot of tense fighting, and a lot of fleeing civilians, with a UN reports suggesting that 5,000 civilians have already been displaced, and that many vulnerable people are still trying to flee. They anticipate some 30,000 to 50,000 being displaced overall just in Afrin, though of course Turkish officials are talking invading virtually all Kurdish territory in Syria.
Invading all Kurdish territory as defined how? If they flee to Damascus (being Syrian citizens suddenly becoming more useful) do Turkish tanks follow them there?
Usually when a politician exaggerates war kills its because the war is going not so great. Its only been four days.
My knowledge about this hardly goes beyond what I read at Moon of Alabama and Elijah Magnier but iI wonder how the Turks are going to achieve anything. Are the Kurds using any of the Al Qaeda tactics with their large underground networks? Are they going to use american advanced weapons against the Turks?
It can change the negotiating position of Syria vs Kurds and it affects the US strategy.
Well Magnier pretty much answered it now 🙂
I believe America and Russia came to an agreement that the Kurds could create an autonomous region in Syria bordering Turkey because Russia knows what Assad knows that Erdogan wanted him removed and lots of the money, fighters and weapons that were used in trying to do it came through Turkey. In Assad’s view who’s more of a threat the people who helped defeat ISIS and want an autonomous region to call there own, or the Sunni Muslims supported by the same guy that supported ISIS and the people trying to remove him from power? It’s a no brainier.