As Kurdish fighters move on last Isis-controlled town in Syria, Turkey threatens - Polidicks

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-isis-hajin-kurdish-fighters-sdf-ypg-islamic-state-terror-a8683696.html Kurdish forces are on the brink of capturing the last town under Isis control in Syria – but before that battle is over they might have to face a Turkish invasion. The town of Hajin, on the banks of the Euphrates river in eastern Syria, is Isis’s last holdout in the country. After three months of intense fighting, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday that it had taken most of the town. The capture of Hajin would represent a milestone for the SDF, which for the last four years has been the west’s main ally in the fight against Isis in Syria. With the backing of the US and UK, it has forced Isis from swathes of the country’s north and east to this small pocket in Deir Ezzor. That alliance could soon be put to the test, however, as Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed this week to launch a military operation against those same fighters. The move has placed Washington in the middle of two allies – one a Nato member and regional heavyweight, and the other a key partner in the fight against Isis. Ankara has long complained about US support for the YPG, a Kurdish militia that makes up the vast majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey considers the group a terror organisation, and has watched as it has grown in strength since the onset of the Syrian civil war. It fears a powerful Kurdish group on its border will threaten its efforts to contain Kurdish nationalism within Turkey. Mr Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey would launch an operation against the YPG “in a few days”. He added that it was “time to realise our decision to wipe out terror groups east of the Euphrates.” The US has some 2,000 of its own troops stationed in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria in support of the SDF, and the Turkish threats prompted a forceful response from the Pentagon on Wednesday. Commander Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesperson, said an operation to cross the border would be “unacceptable”. “Unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party, particularly as US personnel may be present or in the vicinity, is of grave concern,” he said. Both the US and the SDF have warned that an attack against Kurdish areas of northern Syria will allow Isis a chance to regroup. And although the extremist organisation may be close to losing the last of its territory, it is already transforming back into an insurgency that will require Kurdish forces to counter it. A statement released by Syria’s main Kurdish parties on Friday called Turkey’s threats a “declaration of war”, adding that “all the forces in north and east Syria ... are asked to agree on strategies to confront this aggression”. In November, the SDF temporarily suspended its offensive against Isis in Hajin after Turkey fired shells across the border. Its top commander has threatened to do the same again if Turkey attacks. “If there is a Turkish attack, the YPG forces will be forced to come protect the borders, to defend their families,” General Mazloum Kobani said on Thursday. He added that “the battle against Daesh is not possible” without them.

Why is everyone so scared of the kurds?

Because the Kurds have a claim to territory that covers parts of Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and none of those nations want a new country springing up and taking away some of their terra firma. Plus the usual ethnic-and-religious squabbling that abounds in the Middle East.

It's kind of ridiculous how blatant it is that Turkey prefers ISIS to any sort of Kurdish power.

It was literally months ago that armed convoys moved in on Kurdish settlements and forced a surrender in some Syrian regions. They have been such a useful ally, if not THE MOST useful ally in fighting ISIS and the West was all too ready to let Turkey, a known ISIS collaborator, roll in. Fucking sickening.

Surely Turkey wouldn't be so wreckless as to do anything that would endanger US troops?

You mean as they fail to advance for months with heavy cassulties? In fact ISIS made advances against YPG forces.

The Kurds are also a bit of a wildcard since they don't really have any particular loyalties to any regional power and their ideology is a reformed version of left-wing nationalism and marxism.

YPG and PKK are opportunistic tankies, who are ironically hated by the Western tankies.

more frustrating is how the Kurds tend to be way more progressive in comparison to those 3. You'd think we would be supporting a Kurdish state, but then at the same time. It'd just bring more conflict to an already war torn region.

Turkey just wants to continue their mad syrian land grab. Some serious neo-ottoman shit going on over there

Where did they make these advances? Their current territory is about the size of my suburb.

You do realize the reason they couldn't advance was because Turkey was trying to make pushes into the SDF's territory right? And hardly. The syrian rebels that are left are mostly jihadists who didn't want to join the more moderate SDF. That's the reason Turkey supports them, because they're islamist extremists. Turkey doesn't give a shit about anything but Islam now.

Hajin town had flipped more then once between YPG and ISIS, which is deeply embarrassing for YPG since they have overwhelming air support.

I think we should ditch this 80s/90s/2000s way of thinking of it as we move away from the cold war and into new conflicts. Ocalan's ideology is essentially post-marxism leninism, given the death of the USSR and its support for 'national liberation' movements, with a unique Kurdish mishmash of new ideas and influences. While it's more 'libertarian socialist', which has helped reveal a split in the Western left, it's also considerably nationalistic and has no real left-wing foreign policy For some reason this isn't considered horseshoe-ing or part of the rise of populism/nationalism.

They do not care, they've launched airstrikes at Kurdish units that have US Special Forces embedded. They haven't killed any Americans yet, but it is a concern in the US Military that they might if they keep being so reckless.