Allowing Turkey to occupy Northern Syria will be a disaster in itself.
Just look at Northern Cyprus.
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(The caption of the first picture says the subject was in the Syran Army - it should be Syrian Army.)
Caption typo under first picture: Syrian, not "Syran"
“Now it is a fight for land, not for freedom and dignity as before,” said Fares Bayoush, a former senior commander in the Free Syran Army
While everybody is jumping on the Pentagon touted Kurdish bandwagon they are forgetting that these guys, the Free Syrian Army, were the ***original rebels*** who rose up against Assad's regime for a free democratic Syria.
These were the original guys that we first supported and then left in the cold creating the vacuum letting the Russians and Iranians in.
Then to fix that mistake we supported the Kurds who were a problematic choice for NATO ally Turkey from day 1. Furthermore, instead of fighting Assad they were displacing/fighting the local Arabs to create a Kurdish region. They were the crack in the rebellion allowing not only Assad to reestablish himself (through Russian & Iranian help) but allowing ISIS to grow and cause the 4+ million refugees into Turkey, Greece and Europe...
Then they take credit for stopping ISIS. And now threaten to release ISIS prisoners. Man is this a con or what?!
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Remnants of the FSA need protections, no doubt, because they will all be killed if Assad and Russia/Iran have their way (or ISIS that matter). FSA must be remembered for a valiant stand, and they can't be faulted for not winning, but a "free Syria" is still a long, long way away.
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These poor people are being used as pawns. Does anyone truly trust the Turks, Iranians, Israel, Trump , MBS or any of the madmen pulling the strings. Then you have Putin, I’m sure we can all trust him. Now Trump sides with Erdogan, with Putins blessing. Old tinker bell Lindsey Graham can cry all he wants, he is a pitiful man with no moral compass.
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Letting the Kurds occupy and hold on to the areas where Arabs are in majority is sowing the seeds of further conflict. Neither Arabs of the northeastern Syria nor Turkey will allow the Kurds to dominate that vast region. It is time for the Kurds to get realistic and only defend the areas where they form the majority and strive for autonomy in their own enclaves.
I see a kind of frenzy in the messages I read in the US media. Suddenly the SDF became the most important US allies in the region. It is true they fought ISIS, it is true they must be rewarded. Yet one should not forget two things: Turkey is an important long term ally and SDF is an offshoot of PKK, a Stalinist oriented terrorist organization. US should not leave them alone but it should be realized that the alliance with them cannot be a long term affair.
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Allowing Turkey to occupy neighboring country is setting bad precedent. It also inviting the conflict between Turkey and Turkey-supported rebels and Kurds and the rest of Syrians. In eyes of Syrians, Turkey-supported rebels are nothing but traitors.
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@yulia Which Syrians? Yes it is true in the eyes of Alawite Syrians, Christian Syrians and secular Syrians. Kurds too are traitors too in the eyes of those same groups. In the eyes of militant Sunni Muslims of Syrians they are heroes. That is the reality of Syria.
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@ahmet andreas ozgunes
Most of the Turish border areas do not have an Arab majority, because even on the Turkish side, it is Kurds who live there. The Arabs of Hasaka live at least 100 km from the border and it is the Kurds who live in between them and the Turkish border.
The only exception is in Raqqa where the Tal Abayad area is inhabited by Arabs, who have no issue with a Kurdish led Administration. The Arabs who have had the most opposition to the Kurds(mostly in Central Raqqa and Deir ezzoir) will sooner be back under Assad's control as his troops (backed by Russian air power) are much closer
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In Middle east Problems are never easy, with every new crisis, it become more entangled.
Kurds, and as well as exiled Syrians drama is obvious. Worse, the only land they can share is Northern Syria.
Of course sharing land has never been a welcomed idea in Middle east.
Turkey is right ( refugee hosting) , Kurds are right , Exiled Syrians are right, Even Assad has some rights. The wrong is the mind set of Middle east.
However , Since Syrian civil war started , Erdogan policy towards Syria was wrong. It created quite big troubles for Turkey, Refugees, ISIS, Kurds, He wanted to be again an ottoman sultan in the middle east, but he wake up very rough from that dream, Economic crisis and Never welcome to Turks in Middle East.
All this quagmire has a fantastic ornament on it, Trump.
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Finally a view highlighting other side's perspective. Before celebrating the Kurds as "freedom fighters" one should investigate the atrocities perpetuated by PKK and American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces' close association with them. Doing the paramilitary work of the United States does not make angles.
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Does autocracies of PKK allow Turkey to occupy territory of the independent neighboring country?
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Trump saw the dead-end street and now exiting smartly. This is a skill only good business people possess, they change plans swiftly when something is fundamentally wrong. You should be grateful to him for saving huge taxpayer monies and also for not further pushing Erdogan into the arms of Putin. Alas, some are upset because of their imperial dreams...
Kurdistan is a stillbirth (no single language, no unified national identity/culture, a landlocked geography funded by drug trade etc.) and even the stubborn European countries are coming to realize their mistake starting with France.
The Kurdish independence thing was produced by the British after WWI. It is a synthetic manufacture, nothing more. Even the Kurds do not want independence as they are far better off in Turkey or elsewhere.
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Ground zero for this whole Syrian debacle was with some school kids in Daraa in 2011.
I really thank Ms. Carlotta Gall for providing the connecting tissue that takes us from Daraa to the current state of play. It is instructive to be reminded that there are two lineages in syria. One runs from Al Qaeda to Nusra to HTS and the other from the school kids through the Free Syrian Army and the SDF. The latter was the one that america backed.
Erdogan is not my "favorite dictator," but he has been doing his compassionate Muslim duty in hosting 4 million refugees and that period has to come to an end, or Turkey is going to blow. Those displaced Syrians are going to go to Europe or they are going back to Syria. And the Donald's plan is at least one way of facilitating the latter.
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There is no more free Syrian army, they are mercenaries for the Turks, say whatever Turks wants them to say and do whatever they want them to do. Settling refugees in area where they don’t belong is a demographic change that Erdogan dreams of and the Syrian opposition paid to do. Look at Afrin, 300 k civilian Kurds in camps around Afrin while turkey and their Syrian friends bringing people from area just taken by Assad to settle them there.
Let’s them go and fight Assad... he is not in NE Syria or Afrin.
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@Jamie the area was unfortunately not Kurdish to begin with. It was mixed. But lo and behold after 6yrs its all Kurdish. Ever wonder why? Lets get something straight FSA is as mercenaries to Turks as SDF is to us...
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One ought not necessarily be opposed to pulling U.S. troops out of Syria. However, in this instance, the continuing deployment is a relative bargain, where a couple of thousand troops from the U.S. military suffices to ensure the support of the Kurds, who can be leveraged to function as a pro-Western proxy force. The stark reality is that the U.S. tried multiple times to find reliable partners amongst the Sunni Arabs of Syria, and in every case the rebel forces were either inept & feckless, cowardly, corrupt, or simply absconded with their weapons to the hard-line Jihadist militias. The Kurdish forces are dogmatically secular, and the U.S. should strongly favor measures which sustain a culture of free-thinking, tolerance, and respect for women.
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The Syrian "rebels" do understand that the Kurds allow women equal protections under the law and women are also Kurdish fighters?
Doesn't seem like the closest fit.
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If these groups are smart enough to fight Assad instead of fighting the Kurds good luck to them. Are they that smart? Would Erdogan be supporting them if they intended to fight Assad? Do we rally think Trump has thought this through?
"But fighters and veterans of the Free Syrian Army point out that they were also abandoned by Mr. Trump when he cut support to their force in 2017. "
O destiny ... now these guys also suffer, or have suffered, greatly that the US is not providing people and metal to fight alongside them ... Who is next to complain and mourn that there are no US soldiers to fight for their goals ...
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Don't want the complains - don't get in the region. The US gets voluntarily involved in all I
kind of conflicts around the globe, making even bigger mess, then complains that people from these regions complain about America.
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NYT and Carlotta Gall have the gall (sorry, for the pun) to give the other side's prespective on what's really going on in northern Syria. It seems we have already back stabbed allies such as the FSA and Turkey (by getting in bed with the YPG which the Turks consider a terrorist organization).
One may be justified in thinking that destorying ISIS is not the only mission our "deep state" have there. Could it be they want to create a Kurdish statelet? We've already created one in northern Iraq and now we're half way to doing so in northern Syria. Once Syria is in the bag we can work on redrawing the maps of Iran and Turkey too. Let's see if Trump and Erdogan are going to spoil these plans.
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Why would Erdogan allow an independent armed force in this country. He's got a national army and he doesn't need a free agent to create a coup.
If that's a photo of Fares Bayoush at home,in his living room,it should tell you most of what you need to know about the economy and corruption in that part of the world. If you got it,flaunt it.
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Thank you for this article. It makes clear what a mess the region is. And that the local parties need to figure things out. Sad to read the Lefty comments here who burn with hatred for Trump.
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That picture by Mauricio Lima should be in an art gallery or a museum of photography.
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Honestly, If I were Erdogan and the Turks I'd be taking this opportunity to annex Northern Syria for Turkey.
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How many people in the Northern Syria love Turks? Annexion will lead to permanent conflict, like Israel and Palestinians, only Turkey is not so strong as Israel. It will be much tougher for Turkey, especially because tourism is quite a big part of Turkish economy
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Are you confused? I certainly am. Could it be that Trump is indeed right in all this?
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Fact: the Turks hate the Kurds and despise the Arabs. The Arabs fear the Turks. None of them are probably worth our trouble but just leaving the area is no foreign policy.
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This article illustrates how complicated ancient grievances affect Middle Eastern lives to this day. There is no one in Trump’s inner circle who can advise his decisions based on understanding of historical antecedents to modern day relationships, even if he sought such advice.
Who will benefit outside of Syria from the return of these rebel forces? Do the rebels have as much at risk as the Kurds? Will Aasad again use chemical weapons against his own people? What protections are in place for any U S personnel that might remain? What do our military leaders advise? They have so far remained silent while the president plays games with peoples’ lives.
.
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I like the direction Trump is going with our situation in Syria. The Kurds are useful but their adoption by the US has always been problematic because they're wedged between two sovereign nations: Turkey and Syria.
It's true it looks like we "used" them but then they "used" us as well in escaping destruction from ISIS and in gaining some legitimacy simply by working with a superpower like the US. In the future this gives them a stronger place at the negotiation table but did the Kurds think we would unilaterally create a nation for them as a reward?
At least by working with Turkey and factions that are dominantly Syrian, we're back to working with established powers; not one like the Kurds whose dream of an independent nation was always unrealistic and an impediment to achieving any sense of normality.
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@LR your me,or you is very limited in that it was the Kurds that also assisted the US in its short-sighted invasion of Iraq GWB. We would have had a greater toll of US lives lost had it not been for the Kurds. We promised them post-war assistance too and left them to dry in the breeze. Now as it pertains to your “buddy” tRUMP, he does not have any idea what he is doing as it pertains to Syria. And your comment on the Kurds and this free Syria group is also very short-sighted. Just what do you think is going to happen to them in a collaborative fight against the Kurds? I am very curious about your next delusional statement. Lastly, had it not been for the Kurds, ISIS would still be in a strong position in Syria while continually growing and enlisting volunteers throughout the world also wanting to wreak havoc unchecked. What do you know about the issues between the Kurds and Turkey? Finally, your thought on working with “established powers” in this situation is ludicrous since only Russia, which cannot be trusted is the only established power with their boots on the ground. Please do some deep thinking.
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Is this article meant to change our opinion of Trump and his lack of stability in this war? While the US should not be involved in the Middle East, it certainly should not support Erdogan until Erdogan allows for free elections in his country. I am glad that Syrian refugees are safe but this article provides no evidence of how moving them back to Syria will help.
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@Anthony
Elections are free in Turkey. Since 2003 Erdogan and his party received most of the votes 40%. Rest was divided between the opposition parties. Opposition parties are as much a problem as Erdogan and his party. Erdogan and his party play this problem to their advantage.
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@Anthony free election in his country !!!!!, what you call an election where erdogan lost almost 50% of manipsility including the capital city ankara and economy city Istanbul to the opposition coalition parties
Where he partly won the presidency with only 51% of vote and only with help of coalition of parties and even in parliament he can't a single legislation with out the help of other parties ......
So if this ain't a free election i don't know what free election is
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I think I need a program to keep track of who we have or have not armed - -and for what purposes. It often seems to be all sides, with foggy commitments to anything beyond old loyalties.
What mostly resonated with me is the sentence describing Mr. Jalel's new army recruits: " 18- and 19-year olds who have grown up in the tented camps of displaced people that surround the town." War, revenge and more revenge. Endless potential recruits. The only strategy is to eliminate the "enemy " and seize and hold power by force.
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I like Syria and support their struggles under the tyrant Assad. The several factions in Syria described here give a sense of a sort of pluralism developing there, its factions, though separated and self-interested, are not not rabidly destructive and are not so far apart. They may yet come to terms and coalesce vs. the central government. Hail liberty and freedom from oppression; it reminds me a little of the 18th century American colonies under the onus of King George of England.
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I thought it reminds more a tribal war, where different factions fights with each other. They all want liberation, but the definition of liberty is quite different For each of them. This 'Army' could not fight ISIS, because they were too busy to fight among themselves. They don't have a leader(s), they don't agree how they will govern. What they have a desperate population that they don't know how provide for. Abundance of 18-19 years old with no prospects spells radicalization and trouble.
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Wow, Valentine's Day comes early in Turkey, doesn't it? Kudos to whatever Erdogan-funded PR agency pitched this soft lob.
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@JL Williams
What ever you can say, you are not hosting 3.5 million official, 2 million un official (out of the UN camps ) refugees.
What was the Obama took , 10.000 refugee... Trump shut the door to their face.
But when it comes to lecturing and moral posturing , US has loud mouth.
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May the peacekeepers win in this situation.
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