Greater Middle East (bbabo.net), - The US-led coalition has resumed regular patrols in Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria following previous Turkish airstrikes. This is reported by bbabo.net on December 2, citing a Kurdish military source.
The number of patrols was reduced after Turkish strikes began on November 20 in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq in response to a terrorist attack in Istanbul, for which Ankara blamed Kurdish groups. The Kurds deny their responsibility.
According to an bbabo.net correspondent, two patrols of four cars with US flags left separately from the base in Rmeilan in Hasek province. A vehicle belonging to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) escorted each convoy as it moved in different directions towards the Syrian borders.
"The international coalition, in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces, has resumed its routine patrols in northeast Syria after being reduced due to Turkish strikes in the area," a Kurdish military source told bbabo.net on condition of anonymity.
The usual 20 weekly patrols were reduced to five or six after Turkish strikes, which Ankara said were carried out by planes and drones. Kurdish Syrian forces "need to focus on repelling Turkish threats and defending their territories," a Kurdish military source said.
Turkey said it had attacked targets of the Syrian Kurdish YPG, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara considers an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey designates the PKK as a terrorist group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that patrols were also seen in the south of Deir ez-Zor province.
Turkey had previously threatened to conduct a ground operation in the semi-autonomous zones of the Syrian Kurds, in connection with which US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed "strong disagreement" in a telephone conversation with Hulusi Akar, Turkey's defense secretary.
Earlier, White House National Security Council (NSC) strategic communications coordinator John Kirby noted that the United States believes that Turkey has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks, but does not want Ankara to conduct any operations in Syria that could put it under threat to the civilian population, as well as the American troops stationed there.
Kurdish forces have warned that a Turkish invasion would jeopardize the fight against ISIS.
It is noteworthy that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also warned his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu not to launch a ground operation in northern Syria, as such steps would lead to greater destabilization of the situation in the country.
At the same time, as Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, the United States supports the "separatist sentiments" of some leaders of the "Syrian Kurds" and is openly pursuing a line to separate these territories from the rest of the country.
bbabo.Net