Kurdish-led forces push back Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in tense offensive

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Tuesday they have launched a counteroffensive against the Ankara-backed Syrian National Army to retake areas in northern Syria near the border with Turkey.

The SDF are a key ally of Washington in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist Islamic State group scattered across the country’s east.

Clashes between U.S.-backed groups and national forces that have seized the key city of Manbij and surrounding areas have intensified since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s totalitarian rule earlier this month.

The weeks-long violent conflict comes as Syria, battered by more than a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future after half a century of Assad dynasty rule.

Ruken Jamal, a spokesman for the Self-Defense Forces’ Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), told The Associated Press that their fighters were conducting a counterattack just over seven miles from the center of Manbij.

She accused Ankara of trying to use the national accounts system to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future.

“Syria is now in a new phase and discussions about the future of the country are ongoing,” Jamal said. “Turkey is trying to distract us with attacks and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, said dozens of people on both sides have been killed since the Syrian National Army launched an offensive against Kurds in northern Syria earlier this month.

Ankara considers the SDF an affiliate of its sworn enemy the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it lists as a terrorist organization. For years, Turkey-backed armed groups, along with Turkish jets, have attacked key SDF positions in northern Syria in an effort to create a buffer zone free of the group’s influence along the vast shared border.

While the SNA participated in the lightning rebellion led by the Islamist group Tahrir al-Sham that overthrew Assad, it continues to fight the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is seen as the second key player in Syria’s political future.

On Monday, SDF spokesman Farhad Al-Shami said the group’s forces had repelled Turkish-backed rebels from areas near the Tishreen Dam on the Euphrates River, a major source of hydroelectric power. He said the SDF also destroyed a rebel tank southeast of Manbij.

Kurdish-led groups have recaptured four villages in an area near a strategic dam after an overnight battle, Britain’s war monitor said on Tuesday.

Turkish warplanes have also struck the strategic border town of Kobani in recent days.

The Kurds carved out an autonomous enclave in northeastern Syria during the Syrian uprising that turned into conflict, never fully allied to Assad in Damascus or the rebels seeking to overthrow him.

Even if the Assad family is out of the equation, Ankara’s stance appears unlikely to change, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s landmark visit to Syria meeting with de facto leader Ahmed Al Maintained a strong stance against the Kurdish-led group.

“This has turned the region into a cauldron of terror filled with PKK members and far-left groups from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe,” Fidan said at a press conference after the meeting. Turn a blind eye.” Focus on this lawlessness as it provides policing (against ISIS). “

As the fighting continues, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi expressed concern that the power vacuum in Syria and the continued fighting have led to a strong resurgence of “Islamic State” forces, which has left the Kurdish-led group unable to fight against the extremist group. Attack and attack in scattered areas.

Tens of thousands of children, family members and supporters of Islamic State militants remain held in large detention centers in areas controlled by the SDF in northeastern Syria.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut.