Kurdish SDF Says Turkey Breaches Syria Ceasefire, Urges US Intervention

One day into the new Turkey-Russia ceasefire in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish SDF has issued a statement accusing Turkey of being in violation of the deal because of Turkish-backed rebels attacking their villages outside the safe zone.

The SDF’s statement on the violation called on the US to intervene immediately to stop Turkey. Interestingly, there is no indication that the SDF asked Russia to do anything about it, even though it was their ceasefire and the SDF was just in contact with Russia’s Defense Ministry the day before.

The Trump Administration hasn’t said anything about this so far, but it is very unlikely that they’ll try to intervene to punish Turkey for violating a deal with Russia to which the US wasn’t even really a party.

The rebels are focusing on the villages of Manajir, Asadiya, and Musharifa. These are near Tel Abyad, one of the first towns Turkey went after in the invasion of northern Syria. The villages are all outside of the 30 km safe zone area defined by Turkey, the US, and Russia, and no explanation has been offered for why the attack happened. Turkey has declined comment so far.

This was always going to be a problem with Turkey’s safe zone scheme, as no matter where the line was drawn, Turkey would be on the border with Kurdish territory, and would always be inclined to attack them, moving even deeper into Syria.