US-backed Kurdish forces attacked protesters in the Syrian city of Manbij with live ammunition. The attacks came as Arab tribesmen protested the continued Kurdish rule out of a city that is overwhelmingly Arab.
At least eight protesters were reported killed in the attacks, and scores of others were wounded. The Kurdish leadership responded by imposing a curfew across the city and adding troops to checkpoints around it.
Manbij had been part of the ISIS caliphate before being taken by US and Kurdish forces. The US emphasized the the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) would give Arab groups substantial power in the area, though protesters say this is not the case.
This has been a problem in several areas around former ISIS territory, where Kurdish forces ended up dominating mostly Arab territory and trying to steer them into being part of de facto Kurdish territory. This has led to claims of bias in those areas.
The US has downplayed this, and the Kurds have denied anything wrong is happening. The Turkish government, however, has hyped the situation up as a way to try to get support for its various Arab rebel allied factions in northern Syria, and to try to drum up a pretext to further crack down on the Kurds.
How much longer is this trying to put the Kurds in charge, against the will of the local Syrians and the quite strong Turks. When I read all the BS they are pushing all I can think about is !! ENOUGH !! ……Already…. The Kurds want a state & they have some deal with the Israelis it seems. The Turks would like 2C a new & Turkish Ottoman Empire. The Syrians want to see all these invaders, thieves and usurpers go back to where they came from. The U.S./Israel would like 2 see an Israeli Vichy puppet State of KurdIstan ALA “Leadership/hegemny” of our little Apartheid rogue Nuclear Aparthrid buddy, Will it be in any way stable??? Stability is not favorable to at least two of these parties, so good luck..!!
It is not what it seems.
We constantly demonize Turkey. Should not this be a CLEAR warning sign to be wary of the NARRATIVE?
When Trump withdrew from the area, Syrian military and Russian police came in. With the exception of some (not all) border areas of Iraq and Jordan, US has no ground presence.
With US leaving, the fiction called SDF (presumably Arab-Kurdish) was gone, except as a cover for US occupied pieces of Syria. It is a sham, as no Kurds actually live there.
Another story is YPG. It was completely declawed after Trump pulled out. With Syrian and Russian forces in Kobane and Turkey in Afrin. they had NO backers.
Until Biden. Meeting was held with YPG. Now we see the outcome.
Now Syrian government will have to do something about it, i think this is exactly Biden people thinking. They want Kurds to rebel against Damascus.
Why do you think Syria did not take military action against Kurdish YPG secessionists in Afrin. but let Turkey do it? Not to alienate Kurdish population .
Why do you think militants that are now under Turkish command were NOT allowed to enter Manbij once Syria and Russia entered? Because those militants have become militants to DEFEND themselves from US backed Kurds as Damascus at the time had withdrawn its forces from the area to defend from ISIS.
This is why Turkey was able to recruit them easily. BUT when Manbij fell to Damascus, those militants were NOT allowed in to prevent revenge killings of Kurds. During US control of the region, Kurds expelled mostly well to do Arabs and Turkmen and took their homes and businesses.
Turkey has been proven right — Damascus and Russia were soft on Kurds and did not oust YPG from Manbij, probably did not disarm them either,
This Biden move is designed to place a wedge between Turkey, Damascus and Russia in how to deal with Kurds.
This has been done to undermine Turkey — just as Erdogan is coming for visit.
Hopefully it has become clear by now that Syria, Turkey and Russia are not working at cross purposes.
Turkey had no choice in the matter.
US has armed Kurds in Syria, both fake “Syrians” SDF and secessionists YPG. The purpose? YPG as a branch of Turkish PKK was to control Syrian border, ADJOINING Turkish PKK on the Turkish side. Presto — Kurdish state.
Who do you think is financing and arming Kurdish PKK all these DECADES? Such secessionist forces cannot self-finance, and surely without a foreign sponsor they cannot buy arms. Who? Collective West, of course.
Russia and Turkey are still patrolling a 10 mile Syria-Turkey border stretch from Jarabulus to Kobane.
This murder of Syrian nationals by Kurds will have to be dealt with. But to avoid stigmatizing Kurdish population, Syria may do what Turkey recommended in the first place _ deal with YPG as enemy
There is no Ottoman world here. Just a modern day problem American empire is creating. If and when Syrian government is strong enough to control its territory along Turkish border, Turkey will leave. Turkey will stay, if Syria gets a government that will accommodate Kurdish autonomy on its borders. It is that simple.
Before Turkey can deal with the armed Kurds within its borders, it must stem the expansion of PKK into Iraq and Syria.
Looks like Biden has plunged right back into Syria.
We see signs. Conspiring again with YPG. Organizing meting with Erdogan to dress him down and show who is NATO boss. Organizing meeting with Putin to talk primarily Syria.
We can say all we want about US foreign policy— it is dead predictable. Middle East is still its key obsession.